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The cover of Killing in War

Killing in War

Jeff McMahan

Are soldiers on both sides of a war morally equal when one side fights for an unjust cause?

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At a glance

Author
Jeff McMahan

Why read it

  • You will learn to separate whether a soldier did wrong from whether he can be excused for it
  • You will get a clear way to ask when harming civilians in war can be justified, if ever
  • You will be able to test the common arguments for treating soldiers on both sides alike

Who it is for

  • Someone unsure how to judge soldiers sent to an unjust war
  • A student of ethics who wants hard cases, not slogans
  • An officer or adviser who must reason about the limits of force

Contents

  1. 1. The Morality of Participation in an Unjust War
  2. 1.1 The Doctrine of the Moral Equality of Combatants
  3. 1.2 The Traditional Criterion of Liability to Attack in War
  4. 1.3 Can Unjust Combatants Satisfy the Principles of Jus in Bello?
  5. 1.4 The Basis of Moral Liability to Attack in War
  6. 2. Arguments for the Moral Equality of Combatants
  7. 2.1 Justification and Liability
  8. 2.2 Consent
  9. 2.3 The Epistemic Argument
  10. 2.4 Institutions as Sources of Justification
  11. 2.5 The Collectivist Approach to the Morality of War
  12. 2.6 Transferred Responsibility
  13. 2.7 Symmetrical Disobedience
  14. 2.8 Conscientious Refusal
  15. 3. Excuses
  16. 3.1 Sources of Allegiance to the Moral Equality of Combatants
  17. 3.2 Excusing Conditions for Unjust Combatants
  18. 3.3 Skepticism About Excusing Unjust Combatants
  19. 4. Liability and the Limits of Self-Defense
  20. 4.1 Different Types of Threat
  21. 4.2 Liability to Defensive Attack
  22. 4.3 The Moral Status of Unjust Combatants
  23. 4.4 Liability and Punishment
  24. 4.5 The Relevance of Excuses to the Distribution of Risk
  25. 4.6 Child Soldiers
  26. 5. Civilian Immunity and Civilian Liability
  27. 5.1 The Moral and Legal Foundations of Civilian Immunity
  28. 5.2 The Possible Bases of Civilian Liability
  29. 5.3 Civilian Liability to Lesser and ‘‘Collateral’’ Harms
  30. 5.4 Can Civilians be Liable to Intentional Military Attack?
  31. 5.5 Civilian Liability and Terrorism
  32. A
  33. B
  34. C
  35. D
  36. E
  37. F
  38. G
  39. H
  40. I
  41. J
  42. K
  43. L
  44. M
  45. N
  46. O
  47. P
  48. Q
  49. R
  50. S
  51. T
  52. U
  53. V
  54. W
  55. Y
  56. Z

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