Synopses & Reviews
<em>Public War, Private Conscience</em> offers a philosophical reflection on the moral demands made upon us by war, providing a clear and accessible overview of the different ways of thinking about war. <br/><br/>Engaging both with contemporary examples and historical ideas about war, the book offers unique analysis of issues relating to terrorism, conscience objection, just war theory and pacifism. Andrew Fiala examines the conflict between utilitarian and deontological points of view. On the one hand, wars are part of the project of public welfare, subject to utilitarian evaluation. On the other hand, war is also subject to deontological judgment that takes seriously the importance of private conscience and human rights. This book argues that the conflict between these divergent approaches is unavoidable. We are continually caught in the tragic conflict between these two values: public happiness and private morality. And it is in war that we find the conflict at its most obvious and most disturbing. >
Synopsis
Public War, Private Conscience offers a philosophical reflection on the moral demands made upon us by war, providing a clear and accessible overview of the different ways of thinking about war.
Engaging both with contemporary examples and historical ideas about war, the book offers unique analysis of issues relating to terrorism, conscience objection, just war theory and pacifism. Andrew Fiala examines the conflict between utilitarian and deontological points of view. On the one hand, wars are part of the project of public welfare, subject to utilitarian evaluation. On the other hand, war is also subject to deontological judgment that takes seriously the importance of private conscience and human rights. This book argues that the conflict between these divergent approaches is unavoidable. We are continually caught in the tragic conflict between these two values: public happiness and private morality. And it is in war that we find the conflict at its most obvious and most disturbing.
Table of Contents
Introduction1. The Sublime Grind of Ares 2. The War of Public and Private3. Plato's Prophecy and Kant's Dream4. Democratic Control and Professional Ethics5. The Military Establishment6. The Democratic Peace Myth: From Kant and Mill to Hiroshima and Baghdad7. The Vanity of Temporal Things: Hegel and the Ethics of War8. American Ambivalence: Militarism, Pacificism and Pragmatism 9. Sliding Scales and the Mischief of War10. Waterboarding, Torture and Violence11. Conscientious Refusal and the Liberal Tradition12. Public Myths and Private ProtestBibliographyIndex