Michael Walzer's Just War Theory

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Michael Walzer, theory from Augustine to Aquinas to modern times. “Just War” has been used to justify and sometimes rationalize wars throughout history, by invoking its test of morality. Today, “Just War” theory is useful to scrutinize and critique wars in our time. Walzer states the reason for having a theory of “Just War” in a way that is hard to argue with is one, the moral reality of war is not fixed by the actual activities of the soldiers but by the opinions of humankind. Second, the truth is that one of the things most of us want, even in war, is to act or seem to act morally. His development of jus ad bellum proceeds from a foundation that we reject utterly. Walzer states, “It is a crime to commit aggression.” He believes that war …show more content…
However, the Frontline investigation found that the National Security Agency engaged in wiretapping and sifting Internet communications of millions of Americans. Smith askes late in the program, “Is it inevitable that we’re moving towards a world in which this kind of mass data mining and analysis is just going to happen?” Sayfullo Saipov, 29 drove a pickup truck down a crowded bike path along the Hudson River in Manhattan on October 31, 2017. The attack ended five blocks north of the World Trade Center, leaving almost a mile-long crime scene. He killed eight innocent civilians and injured eleven. Saipov ran his pickup truck into a school bus. He than jumped out of his truck and ran up and down the highway waiving a pellet and paintball gun in each hand. Saipov was shouting “Allahu Akbar”, Arabic for “God is great.” He was shot in the abdomen by an officer. Bill de Blasio, Mayor, declared the rampage as a terrorist attack. Federal law enforcement authorities, who were leading the investigation, discovered handwritten notes in Arabic near the truck. This lead investigators to believe this was an allegiance to the Islamic State. Although they had not uncovered evidence of any direct or enabling ties between ISIS and Sayfullo …show more content…
The foundation of ethical decision making involves choice and balance. Ethical thinking is used to consider the impact of our actions. Religious ethics will always play a part in peoples lives as long as religion is in the world. Religion is not absolutely necessary to live a moral life. There are millions of people who live moral lives without participating in religion. Deciding and acting on moral dilemmas is described by psychologist as one of the first sense of morality that children develop. By the time they are teenagers, humans develop more complex and socially responsive moral sensibilities related to the concern for others. Buddhism and Hinduism teach that we pay the consequences of this life throughout our next. Religions tend to dramatize the rewards and punishments of good and bad behavior. Psalms 14:1 “the fool saith in his heart that there is no God.” Popular religions are seen as a strength for good. Generally, there is a belief that religion supports
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