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Soldiers, Self-Defense, and Killing in War

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dc.contributor.authorKilner, Peteren
dc.contributor.committeechairMiller, Harlan B.en
dc.contributor.committeememberCroskery, Patrick T.en
dc.contributor.committeememberChristman, John P.en
dc.contributor.departmentPhilosophyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:51:28Zen
dc.date.adate1998-05-20en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:51:28Zen
dc.date.issued1998-05-07en
dc.date.rdate1998-05-20en
dc.date.sdate1998-05-07en
dc.description.abstractJust-Warists and War-Pacifists disagree on whether soldiers are morally justified in killing each other in wartime combat. Many of their respective arguments, and their contradictory conclusions, are based upon principles of self-defense. In this thesis, I examine the role that principles of self-defense play in the arguments surrounding the moral justification of killing in combat. I do so by critiquing both a Just-Warist argument that relies on self-defense (constructed from the works of Michael Walzer and Judith Jarvis Thomson) and a War-Pacifist argument (developed by Richard Norman) that condemns killing in combat based on the moral requirements of self-defense. I demonstrate that both arguments fail due to their mistaken assumptions that soldiers are not morally responsible for their actions. I conclude by arguing that--once soldiers are recognized as morally responsible agents--killing in combat can be morally justified by principles of self-defense.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.identifier.otheretd-41998-18346en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-41998-18346/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/36685en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartetd.PDFen
dc.relation.haspartPKVITA.PDFen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectpacifismen
dc.subjectjust waren
dc.subjectmilitary ethicsen
dc.subjectkillingen
dc.titleSoldiers, Self-Defense, and Killing in Waren
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePhilosophyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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