RT Article
T1 Terrorism, War, and The Killing of the Innocent
JF Ethical theory and moral practice
VO 10
IS 4
SP 353
OP 372
A1 Jollimore, Troy
LA English
YR 2007
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785694367
AB Commonsense moral thought holds that what makes terrorism particularly abhorrent is the fact that it tends to be directed toward innocent victims. Yet contemporary philosophers tend to doubt that the concept of innocence plays any significant role here, and to deny that prohibitions against targeting noncombatants can be justified through appeal to their moral innocence. I argue, however, that the arguments used to support these doubts are ultimately unsuccessful. Indeed, the philosophical positions in question tend to misunderstand the justification of both the prohibition against targeting noncombatants, and that of the permission to attack combatants, for which the paper offers a new account. Such misunderstandings make it all too easy to justify both terrorist actions and morally objectionable actions on the part of nations at war. Taking proper account of the role of innocence in the context of armed conflict will alter our ordinary ways of thinking about the ethics of war, with respect to both jus in bello and jus ad bellum.
K1 War
K1 Terrorism
K1 Responsibility
K1 Igor
K1 Primoratz
K1 Proportionality
K1 noncombatant immunity
K1 George
K1 Mavrodes
K1 Innocence
K1 Individualism
K1 Robert
K1 Fullinwider
K1 Collective Responsibility
DO 10.1007/s10677-006-9059-x