Just causes:Self-Defence: attack on national honour (e.g. burning the flag, attacking an embassy)
Human rights violations:Another common example is putting right a violation of human rights so severe that force is the only sensible response.What is a Just Cause?St. Augustine's viewSt. Augustine said there were 3 just causes: defending against attack recapturing things taken punishing people who have done wrong Each of these can be seen as an act of justice: they harm someone who deserves to be harmed because they have done wrong.A Modern Definition:In 1993 the US Catholic Conference defined just cause like this:"Just Cause: force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic rights of whole populations."PunishmentThere are three groups of people that might be in line for punishment: The whole people of another country. The leaders of another courntry. Private individuals in another country. A war of punishment would only be just if it was in proportion to the crime and was the only way to achieve the desired end.Violation of Human RightsLet's look at a couple of ways of expanding this idea... A war is just if force is the only way to stop the triumph of evil.This appears helpful, but the difficulty is deciding on what is 'evil', since not all potential enemies are as obviously evil as the Hitler regime in World War II. A war is just in order to put right acts "that shock the moral conscience of mankind."This formula is perhaps more helpful, because it says that war is just in order to deal with things that would shock almost everyone
Originally posted by Hangtime hoist by ones own petard..care to borrow my knife??
