Are there just wars? The history and philosophy of bellum justum

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bih/events/bbk-local?uid=0957ad573135d0d1bd5d0a0b015c4a64
Starts 04 November 2014 – 18:30
Finishes 04 November 2014 – 20:30
Venue Room B33, Main building
Booking detailsFree entry; booking required
Event description

Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities in collaboration with BeBirkbeck

Speaker: Costas Douzinas

In 1914, at the beginning of WWI, Cardinals Mercier of Belgium and Billot of France had a heated argument about the sacred nature of pro patria mori. For the Belgian, a soldier who dies defending his country is assured eternal salvation. Such martyrdom is the highest form of love and cleanses a life of sin making the sinner a saint. The French Cardinal disagreed: this is to forget what god sin and forgiveness are. Forgiving sins through secular heroism is theologically indefensible. Their argument is a modern expression of a much older debate about the justice and goodness of war. This talk will offer a brief the history of bellum justum and then examine the contemporary legal, political and cultural aspects of causta justa and jus in bello. Are there any just wars today?

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