On War: A Dialogue

New Dialogues in Philosophy

by Brian Orend

One in the series New Dialogues in Philosophy, Brian Orend has written an engaging dialogue from the perspectives of a critically injured soldier and his spouse on all questions related to the ethics of going to war and the ethics of fighting in war. Readers learn of the major traditions of thinking about war, including realism, pacifism, just war theory, and international law. Orend draws on a variety of references from the Civil War to the current war in Iraq to illustrate the moral dimension and ambiguity of war.

Genres: Philosophy

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overview, written in dialogue form, of the the current war perspectives, particularly political realism and just war. In my view, it does not do a very good job on pacifism and is quite dismissive of it, but it is good on 'post-war justice' (jus post bellum), which is what Orend is known for adding to the just war debate. While it does bring up all the major theoretical issues of war in a dialogue form, it does not take into account the messiness, harshness, and evil of war in a satisfactory way and is also somewhat shallow on religion.