Question

Can war ever be justified? If so, under what conditions and with what restrictions? Compare the views of Natural Law Theory, Utilitarianism, and Divine Command Theory. (400- 500 words)

Answer 1

It is a difficult question is war justified or not? looking at the previous history we see many examples of war, war is fought to extend the kingdom, the war is done to take revenge, the best examples of war is the war that is fought in the name of religion the examples are Islamic war that was fought to defend the believers from the non-believers who wanted to destroy Islam. Crusades are the other example of the war in the name of religion to capture the holy city of Jerusalem, which is the holy city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

There are two world wars to prove superiority and the conflict of thinking, the recent war is the invasion of Afghanistan by Russia and the US invasion of Iraq resulted in the destruction of the Iraq economy and capturing oil well by the US.

As long as there were two superpowers Russia and the US the world knew that if there is a war there will allies will be formed one would be backed by the US and others will have support from Russia.

With the fall of Russia, The US is free to act, and he is acting against all those countries which do not follow their dictate like Iran. The US has his eye n the Arab oil and in order to protect Israel, the US government is constantly using its power to divide the Islamic Middle East countries, by giving aids to the terrorist and anti-government organizations in those Islamic countries. The US had used false allegation of chemical weapon and destroyed a well established Iraq and the worst part is they hanged the president, Saddam Hussein, it was an act against humanity as per utilitarian the consequences for Iraq was bad and wrong thus the US invasion was wrong. No country would like other interference but it is happening throughout the world. The world has witnessed Korea and Vietnam War, in reality, it was communist Russia and China against the democratic US fought on the third land destroying and killing millions of innocent citizens.

The other form is a civil war, where different ethnic groups fight with each other on their own land. Syria is an example of a civil war.

Any type of war is not good it is a destroying factor because the armies fight for their country, the human life is wasted, we develop enmity against an unknown person.' The best option is negotiation if one round of negotiation fail one can go for many rounds of negotiations, or make a neutral country act as a buffer between the two conflicting countries and bring them on the table to negotiate. Waging war is not a solution because all the countries are sitting with nuclear power the destruction is witnessed during WWII. If anybody would ask Japanese is war necessary? Definitely they can give a better answer and the answer is NO.

Natural law theory is found in the religious philosophy as well. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the perspective of natural law is that there are universal moral standards that are common and inherent throughout the world; it enlightens a person to choose good over evil. Selecting right over the devil is due to the divine presence. It makes one understand other’s pain and sorrow. It acts on our emotions that is the reason for looking at devastating war scenes and the killing of innocent children and women and burnt houses have an impact on us. It is our intrinsic character to act just and avoid evil.

The utilitarian theory says that the rightness and wrongness of an act depend upon its consequences. The war never brings good consequences the winning party feels proud and the other party feels sorrow and defeat the consequences seem good for one and bad for others. It is wrong to have war.

According to the Divine command theory, morality is an obligation in obedience to God. God wants us to be just with one another as God has created humans as his image and given the spiritual values. The spiritual values want one to be kind and love fellow human beings. There are many saints like St Augustine, Duns Scotus, and John Calvin who developed these theories based on the Christian faith.

Comparing natural law theory, utilitarian theory, and the Divine command theory it makes us believe that God has created man with his image and given spiritual values, intrinsic ability to understand what is right and what is wrong through his law of nature. The utilitarian theory makes one aware of the consequences it can be good for one and bad for others, it does not always hold good that consequences are the measure of moral values.