Ο πόλεμος ως ηθικό πρόβλημα: μια σύντομη αναφορά στις φιλοσοφικές πηγές

Abstract

In connection with Kant’s article on “perpetual peace” reference is made to the philosophical discussion on “just war”. It is stressed that Augustine’s treatment is placed within a theological frame which cancels its practical usefulness, although it does bequeath us the important conceptual distinction between jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Despite Kant’s objections, the thinker who did translate the said concepts into functional criteria for the assessment of the reality of international relations was Grotius. Kant is working with an idea of war derived from the experience of the 18th century. The national state wars of the 19th century, however, were essentially different, as shown by Clausewitz. Just war theory remains to this day an indispensable tool for the critique of political life, and its reconstruction by Walzer, based upon the historical experience of the 20th century, constitutes its most complete and effective version.