Ethics of war - introduction

Ethics of war - introduction

Introduction

Human beings have been fighting each other since prehistoric times, and people have been discussing the rights and wrongs of it for almost as long.

This section of the BBC Ethics site covers a wide range of the issues involved.

War is bad

The Ethics of War starts by assuming that war is a bad thing, and should be avoided if possible, but it recognises that there can be situations when war may be the lesser evil of several bad choices.

War is a bad thing because it involves deliberately killing or injuring people, and this is a fundamental wrong - an abuse of the victims' human rights.

War ethics

The purpose of war ethics is to help decide what is right or wrong, both for individuals and countries, and to contribute to debates on public policy, and ultimately to government and individual action.

War ethics also leads to the creation of formal codes of war (e.g. the Hague and Geneva conventions), the drafting and implementation of rules of engagement for soldiers, and in the punishment of soldiers and others for war crimes.

The three key questions are:

• Is it ever right to go to war?
• When is it right to wage war?
• What is the moral way to conduct a war?