The purpose of my examination of war is to question whether the resort to war is ever justified.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Michael Starkman

Professor Shue

October 14, 2004

Paper Assignment #1

War

It is widely accepted, that killing another human being intentionally or carelessly is always wrong. Wars kill and maim human beings in great magnitude and therefore must always be considered wrong. In a sense, there is a presumption against killing. Yet, I see clear difference between the assassination of a murderous dictator and a stabbing in a drunken brawl. And so, whether killing caused by war is always wrong depends on whether there are any justified exceptions to the general presumption against it. There are serious justifications for the resort to war and they "begin from the acknowledgement that the infliction of death and destruction is normally wrong and can, at best, be justified only as an exception to the general rules against the infliction of such harms (Shue, 735)."

Therefore, the purpose of my examination of war is to question whether the resort to war is ever justified. This will take the form of an enquiry, "into whether actions that in ordinary circumstances would be wrong are, in the special context of some kinds of war, either not the kind