Pacifism and the Possibility of Just Wars

3 credits · Undergraduate

What is a just cause to go to war? Are there moral ways to fight a war? Is the only morally defensible position to oppose war altogether and embrace pacifism? How does morality even apply in a time of weapons of mass destruction and global terrorism? This course will examine just war theory and consider challenges presented by pacifists, moral sceptics and by the contemporary nature of war itself.