Do you think that each or any of the four moral traditions Minch identifies supports just war theory as well as personal rational autonomy? Or do you think that the JWT is too weak or too strong for any of these traditions? Do any of the four moral traditions support participation in a war one judges to be immoral?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Utilitarianism seems to require more than JWT, or rather JWT is too weak for utilitarianism. A war may meet all of the criteria for a just war, and yet we would still be worse off in terms of utility than simply not fighting. Christian ethics, in its present form, seems to support just war theory rather nicely, especially given the fact that Augustine was the originator of the just war theory. However, Christianity cannot ipso facto support just war theory, since Christians of the first two to three centuries were entirely pacifist, following Jesus himself. There has always been a pacifist tradition within Christianity, going all the way back to its founder.
Deontology seems to, in one sense, be stronger than just war theory. After all, insofar as deontology is a formulation of the Golden Rule, it seems obvious that one would not want a war waged against themselves for any reason. And therefore, one ought not to wage war against anyone else. However, it may be that in some way, a state would expect, if not want, another state to wage war on it, just so long as the first state was acting immorally against the second, and the second met all the just war criteria. But this seems a big stretch.
Virtue ethics is a more difficult analysis, since there are many different virtues. Compassion is a virtue, which seems to imply that one should have compassion for one's enemy. But so is justice a virtue, and if a cause is just, it is prudent to fight for that cause. However, it may be that no war is ever just, or could ever meet the just war criteria, and virtue ethics could not support it. Perhaps JWT is too strong for virtue ethics, since it seems many different virtues could support a justification for war. Since all of these traditions require personal rational autonomy, or rather, put the responsibility for decisions and choices squarely on the shoulders of the individual making the decision, each of them denies the possibility that a person could be moral and participate in an immoral war. This is a matter of simple logic.
JOHNSON

Do You Think That Each or Any of the Four