----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Remick" <carlremick at hotmail.com>
>
> I have a very well-developed pacifist impuslse, thank you, but I
certainly
> remain open to the notion that -- yes, yes, WWII -- a just war can
exist.
> In my lifetime, though, I have never seen anything remotely
approximating a
> just war.
>
> Carl
>
==========
The paradox of just war theory is that it privileges the justifiability of defense. To the extent it does not investigate the conditions/decisions leading to the *inauguration* of aggression, it is woefully incomplete. Few would deny the right of nations to defend themselves from extreme belligerence and we should surely respect that right. The issue is aggression as first cause and whether that is ever justifiable, imo. When we accept the justifications offered regarding defense are we not simultaneously, albeit usually tacitly, asserting that the aggressor was not justified? If so, when has aggression ever been justified--whether individually or institutionally? We can leave the issue of where the authority, if it exists, to command another[s] to engage in aggression is justifiable for now.
Ian