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Essay / Christian Philosophy of Just War Theory
When I think of war, I immediately think of weapons, extreme violence, innocent deaths, and inevitable suffering. The belligerence that drives war conflicts with the fundamental ethics of civilization because it interferes with the individual's right to peace, security, subsistence and liberty. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay As a predominantly Christian philosophy, just war theory asserts that under certain conditions, war can be morally justified. The ideologies of just war theory were first invented by Plato and Cicero, Greek and Roman philosophers, and were eventually developed by Christian theologians Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. For a war to be considered just, it must meet six specific conditions. The first and perhaps most important criterion is that the war must be fought for a just cause. However, this remains a matter of controversy as there is disagreement over what constitutes just cause with examples such as self-defense or corrective punishment. The next criterion to be met is that war must be declared by a legitimate authority. Therefore, wars must be fought with the right intention, otherwise fighting for material gain, for example, undermines the justice of war. Furthermore, declaring war should be a last resort after all other plausible alternative means of resolving the problem have been exhausted. As violence without probable gain cannot be justified, all declarations of war must have a reasonable chance of success on the part of states. Finally, wars must be fought in a proportionate manner, that is, the end must justify the means. It is also said that a war can cease to be a just war when innocents and civilians are harmed and when force is excessive. Although the concept of a just war seems logical in theory, there has never been a just war to date, or at least by the standards of just war theory. The 20th century saw the two largest world wars, as well as hundreds of regional wars, conflicts and civil wars. According to official statistics, the total number of casualties in all these wars has reached a staggering 150 million, 80% of whom are innocent civilians, and this figure excludes the many others injured and disabled. Today, in the 21st century, wars continue at full speed and threaten to turn into catastrophes of even greater magnitude. What is even more saddening is that the world powers and leaders behind these wars view them as “wars of necessity.” For example, the 2003 Iraq War, which ended in 2011 under the leadership of Britain and the United States, saw more than a million Iraqis lose their lives, the majority of them civilians. . Following a British commission, it was revealed that Iraq did not pose a threat to opposition countries and that the severity of the danger posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was not justified. Therefore, the war in Iraq was not a "war of necessity", but rather a "war of choice" based on varied agendas and faulty intelligence. Additionally, with the rapid development of modern technology, weapons and machinery, some believe that As today's weapons are far too lethal, sophisticated and widely accessible, the very idea of a "just war" is obsolete. The possible uses of biological, chemical and nuclear warfare cannot..