Almost exactly a year ago, I was on my way to Boston to visit my friend Rachel. Now [1], I am on my way to Boston again, visiting Rachel again but also attending a workshop on structural equation modeling. Last year when I visited Rachel, we talked a lot about research. She was a year … Continue reading Review
One of my early motivations for studying the morality of war in contrast to the morality of peace (or, "everyday morality") was that war has been around for a long time [1], and has long been tied to intragroup cooperation [2]. So, to the extent that we have reliable intuitions about harm in general, I … Continue reading Changing Times, Changing Minds
“But that would be the easy part!” We were on holidays in California, and Ivan’s friend was talking about the different paths he might take to arrive as An Author, having written A Book. “I could drop everything, drink up all my money, and live like a tramp for a year - but that would … Continue reading Easy.
Eventually, these posts will get around to summarizing my own research, in which I've compared moral judgments made in war to those made in peace. But for now, let's think about other, less academic and perhaps more thought-provoking, evidence about the distinction between war and peace. Exhibit A: This protester seems to be trying to … Continue reading War Is/Not Peace
Today is the International Day of Peace, also known as Peace Day. What better day to... blog about war? I'm going to stick to my Monday schedule, but I wanted to take this opportunity to share three things: This Spotify playlist, created especially for #PeaceDay. It's a pretty bizarre and eclectic mix, but I'm enjoying … Continue reading Peace One Day
In Korea, a company of Marines was way outnumbered and was retreating before the enemy. The company had crossed a bridge over a river, but the enemy were mostly still on the other side. If someone went back to the bridge and blew it up, with the head start the rest of the men in … Continue reading War, Scenarios
I said to my boyfriend yesterday, "tomorrow is the eleventh of September." He looked at me for a long moment, as if expecting something more; it wasn't until I opened my mouth to explain "no reason, I was just thinking about it," that he reacted, "Oh! 9/11! Nobody says it like that." And he's right; … Continue reading 11th of September
Last week, the news was going around that a 94-year old German man, Reinhold Hanning, had been convicted of accessory to murder. And this was not any old homicide; this was the murder of around 170,000 people in Auschwitz, the concentration camp in which Hanning had been a guard during 1944. Quoting the news: The prosecution’s … Continue reading War and Murder
War is A grave affair of state; It is a place Of life and death, A road To survival and extinction, A matter To be pondered carefully. - Sun-Tzu, The Art of War This is how my thesis will start, I think. It's not always a good idea to start with a quote, and I'm not … Continue reading Master Sun said:
One of the most basic - if not The Most Basic - rules of war is "do not kill civilians". In the language of just war theory, this is referred to as The Principle of Discrimination; the principle is codified in the Geneva Conventions and forms the first rule of Customary International Humanitarian Law. Despite its … Continue reading Justified Killing
