Cover image for A Moral Military.
A Moral Military.
Title:
A Moral Military.
Author:
Axinn, Sidney.
ISBN:
9781592139590
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (256 pages)
Contents:
Contents -- Preface to the Revised and Expanded Edition -- Preface to the First Edition -- 1 Introduction -- The Kind of Question Involved in Moral Military Action -- Must Every Order Be Obeyed? -- Forbidden Weapons? Nuclear Weapons? Terrorism? -- The Good Soldier -- Relations between Officers and Enlisted Personnel -- The Moral Foundations of Soldiering -- The Order of Topics -- The Scope and Limits of This Study -- 2 Morality: Why Sacrifice Myself? -- What Are Moral Questions? What Is theMeaning of Duty? -- The Four Different Theories of Morality -- Universal Fairness -- Social Utility -- Individualism -- Religious Foundations -- The Range and Limits of the Different Moral Styles -- The Professional Army Ethic -- Choosing Among the Four Moral Styles -- 3 Military Honor and the Laws of Warfare: When Can I Lie to the Enemy? -- Military Education -- Honor: Dual Duties -- Honor and Personal Risk: Hero or Coward? -- Conclusions -- 4 Hostilities: All Is Not Fair -- Protecting Powers -- The Hague Rules and Some History -- A Declaration of War -- The Nature of Law -- Status of Civilians -- The Principle of Double Effect -- Hostilities: The General Principle -- The Hague Rules, Article 23 -- Protected Buildings -- Legitimate and Illegitimate Strategy -- 5 Prisoners of War -- A History of the POW -- Defining the POW -- Treatment of POWs -- Humane Treatment -- Fact vs. Fiction -- 6 Spies -- Defining a Spy -- Treason -- Punishment for Spying -- The Morality of Spying -- Morality out of Uniform -- Conclusions -- 7 Nonhostile Relations with the Enemy -- Parlementaires -- Armistices -- Surrenders -- Safeguards -- Military Passports, Safe-conduct Passes, and Cartels -- 8 War Crimes, Remedies, and Retaliation (Dirty Warfare) -- Defining a War Crime -- Biological Experiments -- Taking Hostages: "Surrender, or I'll Kill This Child!" -- Remedies and Reprisals.

Punishment for War Crimes -- Terrorism and the Concept of War Crimes -- A Moral Defense for Terrorism? -- 9 The Dirty-Hands Theory of Command -- Dirty Harry -- Four Styles -- The So-called Moral Value of Guilt -- Collective Morality -- A Kantian Solution to the Problem of Dirty Hands -- The Principles of Publicity -- The Fallacy of Many Questions -- 10 Torture -- The Evolution of Torture -- A Definition of Torture -- Arguments For and Against the Use of Torture -- Arguments Favoring the Use of Torture Only in Certain Situations -- Political Categories Do Not Predict Attitudes Toward Torture -- Conclusions -- 11 Nuclear Devices and Low-intensity Conflicts -- Nuclear Weapons -- Low-intensity Conflicts, Covert Actions,and Psychological Warfare -- The Fight against Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Terror -- 12 Conclusions -- The War Conventions as a Moral Code -- The War Conventions as International Law -- Education: Military and Civilian -- Military Honor: A Romantic Myth or a Serious Matter? -- The Need for Publicity -- Enemy Morality -- Summary of Themes -- Appendix 1. Are the Hague and GenevaConventions Obsolete? -- Appendix 2. Topics Not Considered in the Text -- Appendix 3. Test on the Laws of Land Warfare -- Notes -- Brief Bibliography -- Index.
Abstract:
In this new edition of the classic book on the moral conduct of war, Sidney Axinn provides a full-length treatment of the military conventions from a philosophical point of view. Axinn considers these basic ethical questions within the context of the laws of warfare: Should a good soldier ever disobey a direct military order? Are there restrictions on how we fight a war? What is meant by "military honor," and does it really affect the contemporary soldier? Is human dignity possible under battlefield conditions? Axinn answers "yes" to these questions. His objective in A Moral Military is to establish a basic framework for moral military action and to assist in analyzing military professional ethics. He argues for the seriousness of the concept of military honor but limits honorable military activity by a strict interpretation of the notion of war crime. With revisions and expansions throughout, including a new chapter on torture, A Moral Military is an essential guide on the nature of war during a time when the limits of acceptable behavior are being stretched in new directions.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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