A Moral Military

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 honour," and does it really affect the contemporary soldier? Is human dignity possible under battlefield conditions?Axinn answers "yes" to these questions. His objective inA Moral Militaryis 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 honour but limits honourable 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 Militaryis an essential guide on the nature of war during a time when the limits of acceptable behaviour are being stretched in new directions.

Sidney Axinn is Professor Emeritus, Philosophy Department, Temple University, and Curtesy Professor, Philosophy, University of South Florida. He is Past President of the American Society for Value Inquiry, and the author of The Logic of Hope: Extensions of Kant's View of Religion.

Preface to the Revised and Expanded Edition	p. ix
Preface to the First Edition	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The Kind of Question Involved in Moral Military Action	p. 1
Must Every Order Be Obeyed?	p. 2
Forbidden Weapons? Nuclear Weapons? Terrorism?	p. 3
The Good Soldier	p. 4
Relations between Officers and Enlisted Personnel	p. 5
The Moral Foundations of Soldiering	p. 5
The Order of Topics	p. 7
The Scope and Limits of This Study	p. 9
Morality: Why Sacrifice Myself?	p. 11
What Are Moral Questions? What Is the Meaning of Duty?	p. 11
The Four Different Theories of Morality	p. 12
Universal Fairness	p. 15
Social Utility	p. 18
Individualism	p. 22
Religious Foundations	p. 24
The Range and Limits of the Different Moral Styles	p. 30
The Professional Army Ethic	p. 35
Choosing Among the Four Moral Styles	p. 38
Military Honor and the Laws of Warfare: When Can I Lie to the Enemy?	p. 40
Military Education	p. 40
Honor: Dual Duties	p. 43
Honor and Personal Risk: Hero or Coward?	p. 55
Conclusions	p. 60
Hostilities: All Is Not Fair	p. 65
Protecting Powers	p. 65
The Hague Rules and Some History	p. 66
A Declaration of War	p. 68
The Nature of Law	p. 70
Status of Civilians	p. 71
The Principle of Double Effect	p. 73
Hostilities: The General Principle	p. 74
The Hague Rules, Article 23	p. 75
Protected Buildings	p. 81
Legitimate and Illegitimate Strategy	p. 84
Prisoners of War	p. 87
A History of the POW	p. 87
Defining the POW	p. 88
Treatment of POWs	p. 90
Humane Treatment	p. 94
Fact vs. Fiction	p. 96
Spies	p. 97
Defining a Spy	p. 97
Treason	p. 99
Punishment for Spying	p. 100
The Morality of Spying	p. 100
Morality out of Uniform	p. 104
Conclusions	p. 105
Nonhostile Relations with the Enemy	p. 107
Parlementaires	p. 107
Armistices	p. 108
Surrenders	p. 108
Safeguards	p. 111
Military Passports, Safe-conduct Passes, and Cartels	p. 111
War Crimes, Remedies, and Retaliation (Dirty Warfare)	p. 113
Defining a War Crime	p. 113
Biological Experiments	p. 115
Taking Hostages: "Surrender, or I'll Kill This Child!"	p. 119
Remedies and Reprisals	p. 122
Punishment for War Crimes	p. 127
Terrorism and the Concept of War Crimes	p. 137
A Moral Defense for Terrorism?	p. 138
The Dirty-Hands Theory of Command	p. 140
Dirty Harry	p. 141
Four Styles	p. 142
The So-called Moral Value of Guilt	p. 143
Collective Morality	p. 146
A Kantian Solution to the Problem of Dirty Hands	p. 146
The Principles of Publicity	p. 147
The Fallacy of Many Questions	p. 151
Torture	p. 153
The Evolution of Torture	p. 154
A Definition of Torture	p. 155
Arguments For and Against the Use of Torture	p. 156
Arguments Favoring the Use of Torture Only in Certain Situations	p. 159
Political Categories Do Not Predict Attitudes Toward Torture	p. 161
Conclusions	p. 162
Nuclear Devices and Low-intensity Conflicts	p. 163
Nuclear Weapons	p. 163
Low-intensity Conflicts, Covert Actions, and Psychological Warfare	p. 169
The Fight against Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Terror	p. 176
Conclusions	p. 178
The War Conventions as a Moral Code	p. 178
The War Conventions as International Law	p. 181
Education: Military and Civilian	p. 184
Military Honor: A Romantic Myth or a Serious Matter?	p. 186
The Need for Publicity	p. 192
Enemy Morality	p. 195
Summary of Themes	p. 195
Are the Hague and Geneva Conventions Obsolete?	p. 197
Topics Not Considered in the Text	p. 203
Test on the Laws of Land Warfare	p. 207
Notes	p. 213
Brief Bibliography	p. 233
Index	p. 237
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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