To read this content please select one of the options below:

Enriching Rights: Virtue and Sacrifice in Just War Theory

Achieving Ethical Excellence

ISBN: 978-1-78441-245-6, eISBN: 978-1-78441-246-3

Publication date: 4 October 2014

Abstract

The images of soldiers which are evoked on memorial days commonly include a number of different virtues: courage, loyalty, fraternity, etc. One ideal perhaps extolled above all others is that of sacrifice. Soldiers, according to popular moral platitudes, are lauded for the sacrifices they make for the common good. Implied in this is the expectation that soldiers ought to be the type of people who are prepared to sacrifice themselves in defence of an ideal. Within the most popular framework for morally evaluating war, Just War Theory, sacrifice tends to be understood from within the deontological, rights-based framework that modern just war theorists favour. In this chapter I will aim to show how the conclusions drawn by considering sacrifice through a deontological lens can be enriched through the addition of virtue theoretical considerations, leading to a fuller account of sacrifice.

This chapter takes a philosophical approach to the idea of sacrifice in the military. It explores whether the predominant framework used for evaluating war, Just War Theory, is a suitable framework for understanding the sacrifices soldiers, commanders, and political leaders can be asked to make in times of war. Focussing on various conceptions of sacrifice, including physical and moral sacrifices, the chapter argues that the predominantly deontological formulation of modern just war theories could be enriched by considering notions surrounding the ancient Greek concept of arete (virtue). Thus, as well as being a detailed exposition of sacrifice in war, the chapter also seeks to show how consideration of aretaic notions such as virtue, character and moral psychology can enrich just war theories responses to various issues.

The value of this research is in suggesting that soldiers are morally obligated to accept more risk than modern warfare typically places, or at least historically has placed, on them. It also has implications for military ethics education in that it suggests that soldiers’ characters should be shaped in such a way as to dispose them to sacrifice. Further, it has implications for the use of Just War Theory in international relations by introducing a moral framework through which political leaders can determine when they might be morally obligated to forgive the indiscretions of another nation, and what it means to forgive in this context. As such, it makes a contribution to a growing discussion within Just War Theory: jus post bellum – the moral norms surrounding the resolution of conflict.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This chapter will form a substantial section of a chapter of my doctoral thesis. I am grateful for feedback from my supervisors, Christian Enemark and Hayden Ramsay, who have greatly improved the quality of this chapter. I originally tested these ideas at the AAPAE conference in Fremantle, 2013. I am also hugely grateful for the insights I received there, which have significantly improved the quality of my thought and argument.

Citation

Beard, M. (2014), "Enriching Rights: Virtue and Sacrifice in Just War Theory", Achieving Ethical Excellence (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 59-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620140000012000

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited