Arguably, war and philosophy tend to always appear a little common. As a matter of fact, scholars assert that philosophy is a field that defines and establishes the rationality and justice for being part of a war and that it attempts to set norms and rules on how wars in most cases must be conducted. One of the philosophical theories that try to justify the essence of going to war is the Just War Theory. Certainly, the scheme of a Just War is to define and establish ethical and moral foundation for human destructive events and activities. In addition, just war principles tend to delineate the basis of ethics in the involvement of war. In most cases, there is a tendency of the chasm between practical and theoretical issues pertaining to war. The focus of just war theory is to justify various activities of war while the theory of war involves strategic concepts and war-fighting that is employed to conquer an enemy. In general perspective, just war theory entails the basis that nations seek a moral and legal justification of being part of a war. In the global arena, some nations do not focus on this justification, for example, Nazi Germany. One of the main examples of nations that explicitly get concern and recognize Jut War Theory is United States; in fact, they take it has criteria for going to war. In this case, the main focus is the application of theory of just war and the involvement war by America in the 20th century.
Perhaps, the basic beginning stage of Just War Theory asserts that war may be an awful event, but at the same time it is one of the essential political aspects. Theories of just war were build-up many centuries ago by Catholic theologians that included Grotious, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. As a matter of fact, most facts, references and arguments that arise today concerning just war are found in Catholic sources (Crawford 2). On the pother hand, the implicit orientation to just war arguments comes from various sources because many issues have become part of the political principles in the Western. St. Augustine formulated the just war by asserting that for activities of war to be just, and then it should be that the war was fought for only the right rationale, and should nevertheless be waged beneath rightful authority. According to him, war is justified if its main reason is to have peace. United states believe that their involvement of war in the 20th century was to seek for peace. In addition, Augustine criticizes the desire to revenge, harm, dominate, as well as savageness during war.
The theory of Just war will not be mentioned without focusing on St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas focused on the intent to develop a definition of the need to make war, as well as the essentiality of the intent to go to war. In addition, Aquinas asserted that war will only be a justified course if the necessary and basic situations were met. Hugo Grotious was also part of the establishment of the Theory of Just War (Fiala 23). In fact, he developed and laid a tremendously focused on issues of international law. These international laws still define and still condemn the issues of war with nations.
There are various wars that America was involved in the 20th century, which based its argument of being involved in war on Theory of Just War. In this war, there are three divisions of a “just war” which include entering into war, ending the war, as well as conduct during war. These divisions must always be justified under the principles of a just war. These three divisions have been stated in Latin; they are Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bellum, as well as Jus post Bellum (Fotion 20). These part concerns justified reasons to going to war, justice of conduct in time of war, and justice of termination and peace agreement in ending the war. In most cases, the aggression of war goes against the basic norms and values of civilization. This is because it attacks the human rights to security, liberty, life, peace, as well as subsistence. However, theory of Just War asserts that war can be morally justified under some conditions. Realism and pacifism differs on issue of war; according to realism moral issues can never be applied on war questions. On the other hand, pacifism asserts that justification of war on moral grounds will never happen.
In the 20th century, Americana involvement in war has always raised a lot of controversies. This is because Americas try to justify their involvement of war based on principles on the Just War Theory. One of the applications of the Theory of Just War is the U.S decision to defend South Korea. The Korean War, is a clear example of aggressions of war that the Jus ad Bellum could easily be applied (Fiala 34). In the year 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea with the main goal being to conquer South Korea and making it part of the North Korea territory. United States took action in defending South Korea by authorizing military action against North Korea. United Nations forced on the international law and the UN charter in action as the protector of peace. The application of Theory of Just War is witnessed in the U.S support for South Korea, but there are many difficulties that arise in the understanding and application of these principles. Issues to consider in the war are the definition of aggression, the interest of involves parties, as well as U.S objective. The Application of Just War Theory in the Korean War requires critical analysis of the war.
Another example of application of Theory of Just War, is the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam war. The United States experience in the Vietnam war is a clear application of Jus in Bellum and Jus ad Bellum. Analysts assert that no morality or Christian should claim that the Vietnam war violates the moral immunity. During the war, there was a lot of civilian casualties which included deaths, disruption of sanitation, food distribution as well as farming. These damages caused do not justify the contribution of the United States in the Vietnam war. In another perspective, U.S believes that Vietnam war applied the principles of the Theory of Just War, since the objective of the war was to correct the evils, such as a massive violation of human rights and aggression (Crawford 7).
Moreover, United States were involved in war in the 20th century with Japan. The bombing of Japan by America is another example of American involvement in ways that entails the application of Just War Theory (Fotion 27). The United States bombings lead to enormous destructions and lose of life. In fact, the use of atomic bomb led to greater violation. The application of the theory is analytically focused on the intention of war, the course of the war, and the agreements in ending the war.
The recognition of Just War Theory in the involvement of the United States in the three wars could at one point don’t meet the three principles of the Just War Theory. For example, the needs of Jus ad Bellum principle include competent authority, just cause, as well as right intention. The United States decisions on the involvement of war do not meet the needs of right intention and just cause. Moreover, in the course of war, the execution does not meet the requirements of the principle Just in Bellum. In most scenarios, United States were not acting on the basis of self defense. If just cause, is taken to mean self defense, then United States do not meet the requirement of a just cause (Fiala 36).
In conclusion, Theory of Just War is a general attempt to comprehend and think on the oral and just issue of war. The theorists and scholars who have shaped and recognized the Theory of Just War incorporated both religions and secular thoughts. In the 20th century, Theory of Just War was recognized so as to reduce the horrors of war. The complexity of Theory of War comes up because it is hard to justify the principle of the theory. Generally. United States in most cases have become involved in the issues of war, asserting that the war has been for a just cause. In the 21st century, the United States still get involved in wars, for example, the Iraq war, and war against terrorism.
Work Cited
Crawford, Neta. Just War Theory and the U.S. Counterterror War.Just War Theory
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Fiala, Andrew G. The Just War Myth: The Moral Illusions of War. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Print.
Fotion, Nicholas. War and Ethics: A New Just War Theory. London [u.a.: Continuum Logo, 2007. Print.
