Thomas Aquinas on War and Peace

The first book-length study of Aquinas's teaching on just war, its antecedents, and its reception by subsequent thinkers.

Gregory M. Reichberg (Author)

9781108730167, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 January 2019

324 pages
23 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.45 kg

'This is a fine book - the scholarhip is impressive, the writing and argumentation clear. It goes into enough depth, and breaks enough new ground, to make it profitable to specialists; at the same time, it would, with the aid of a guide, be accessible to intelligent undergraduates. Its combination of historical survey with exploration of contemporary issues would make it an excellent text for an upper-level course in military ethics.' Christopher Toner, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

Inquiring 'whether any war can be just', Thomas Aquinas famously responded that this may hold true, provided the war is conducted by a legitimate authority, for a just cause, and with an upright intention. Virtually all accounts of just war, from the Middle Ages to the current day, make reference to this threefold formula. But due in large measure to its very succinctness, Aquinas's theory has prompted contrasting interpretations. This book sets the record straight by surveying the wide range of texts in his literary corpus that have bearing on peace and the ethics of war. Thereby emerges a coherent and nuanced picture of just war as set within his systematic moral theory. It is shown how Aquinas deftly combined elements from earlier authors, and how his teaching has fruitfully propelled inquiry on this important topic by his fellow scholastics, later legal theorists such as Grotius, and contemporary philosophers of just war.

Part I. Just War in Aquinas's Typology of the Virtues: 1. Just war among the Quaestiones on charity
2. War's permissibility
3. Interpreting the gospel 'Precepts of Patience'
4. Military prudence
5. Battlefield courage
Part II. Selected Topics: 6. Legitimate authority
7. War and punishment
8. Self-defense
9. Preventive war
10. The moral equality of combatants
Epilogue: 11. St Thomas and the doctrine of bellum iustum today.

Subject Areas: Theory of warfare & military science [JWA], Theology [HRLB], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], History of Western philosophy [HPC]