Ethics, Killing and War

Richard Norman looks at issues concerning the justification for war and thereby examines the possibility and nature of rational moral argument.

Richard Norman (Author)

9780521455534, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 February 1995

268 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.375 kg

"...provacative and wide ranging essays philosophical essay questioning the morality of war." Timothy M. Renick, Religious Studies Review

Can war ever be justified? Why is it wrong to kill? In this new book Richard Norman looks at these and other related questions, and thereby examines the possibility and nature of rational moral argument. Practical examples, such as the Gulf War and the Falklands War, are used to show that, whilst moral philosophy can offer no easy answers, it is a worthwhile enterprise which sheds light on many pressing contemporary problems. A combination of lucid exposition and original argument makes this the ideal introduction to both the particular debate about the ethics of killing and war, and also to the fundamental issues of moral philosophy itself.

Preface
1. Moral thinking
2. The wrongness of killing
3. Killing and letting die
4. Killing in self-defence
5. Killing the innocent
6. Having no choice.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]