perceived advantages of war

nietzche

• nietzche argues that war brings out our best qualities (like courage), which will be necessary if mankind is to eventually cast off the shackles of a christian morality that ‘instills insipid values like meekness, and evolve into a race of strong-willed, fearless, free spirited übermenschen/ supermen’

technological advancement

• nuclear medicine and nuclear power have both resulted from the same research that produced nuclear weapons, while the invention of the domestic microwave oven came about as a spin-off from developments in radar technology that took place during World War 2.

• However, it could be argued that military spending only speeds up technological development.

• So it is not necessarily the case that we would be without certain beneficial inventions had this military research never taken place.

• Given the loss of life that inevitably results from the use of weapons of war, it also seems perverse to make the case that this is somehow offset by scientific advances that are of benefit to mankind as a whole.

evaluation of religious relevance (strengths)

• significant contributions made by christians such as augustine and aquinas to secular just war theory

• cases that religious leaders can serve the conscience of a nation that engages in acts of war

• e.g. both the outgoing archbishop of canterbury (george carey) and his successor (rowan williams) spoke out against the war with iraq, while in 2002 us catholic bishops signed a letter to pres. bush stating that any “preemptive, unilateral use of military force to overthrow the govt of iraq” was unjustifiable at the present time

• they came to this position by evaluating whether an attack against iraq would satisfy the criteria for a just war as defined by catholic theology

evaluation of religious relevance (weaknesses)

• can also be said that evangelical christian leaders also invoked the theory to justify the invasion of iraq, which perhaps demonstrates that it is capable of being manipulated to serve and justify a prior agenda

• it is also the case that belligerent holy wars such as the crusades, and terrorism carried out by extreme religious groups, such as al-Qaeda, have been ‘justified’ on religious grounds which makes the overall ‘contribution’ of religion to be questioned

• interestingly, both george w bush and osama bin laden felt that god wanted them to act as they did

• → simply being in possession of religious beliefs does not therefore guarantee that better moral decisions about war will be made as a consequence of holding such beliefs.