Lesser Evil and Responsibility: Comments on Jeff McMahan's Analysis of the Morality of War

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 712-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Re'em Segev
Keyword(s):  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Common View ◽  
Interpersonal Conflicts ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Morality Of War ◽  
Universal Application

The main aim of Jeff McMahan's manuscriptThe Morality and Law of Waris to answer the question: why and accordingly when, is it justified or permissible, to kill people in war? However, McMahan argues that the same principles apply to individual actions and to war. His main claim is that “a state of war… does not call forth a different set of principles, but merely complicates the application of moral principles that are of universal application.” In other words, “…in war, people have the same rights, immunities, and liabilities that they have in other contexts.” McMahan rejects “all doctrines of collective responsibility” and “liability” according to which “individuals can share in responsibility… or liabilitysimply by virtue of membershipin a collective.” His claim is that every individual is liable for what he has done and not for the actions of others—even if both are part of the same collective. Accordingly, McMahan challenges the common view that it is much easier to justify killing in war compared to killing in other contexts. Therefore, the scope of his project exceeds the context of war and extends to interpersonal conflicts between individuals that do not qualify as war. Indeed, McMahan has argued in the past for a similar account of self-defense in the individual context.

Collective Responsibility—Again

Philosophy ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 44 (168) ◽  
pp. 153-155
Author(s):  
David E. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Common View ◽  
The Common ◽  
Full Approval

I shall not try to deal with all of the interesting points Mr. R. S. Downie (Philosophy. Jan. 1969) raises against my paper, Collective Responsibility (Philosophy. July 1968). I shall deal with (1) a matter of clarification, (2) one of the lesser issues between us, and (3) the major issue between us.(1). On one point, surely, Downie has simply misunderstood what I said. He claims that my criticisms do not work against the common view that Responsibility is analytically tied to blameworthiness; but only apainst the claim that Responsibility is analytically tied to the efficacy of blame. Well, I hope so. For it was meant to be clear that I was only attacking the view, to be found in Nowell-Smith's Ethics (and also among some Utilitarians), that Responsibility is to be analysed in terms of the efficacy of blame and punishment. Far from attacking the view that Responsibility is analytically tied to blameworthiness, I quoted, with full approval, a passage from Brandt, according to which Responsibility entails the “fittinsness” of blaming and praising attitudes.

scholarly journals Moral Messaging in a Time of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Misiak ◽  
Petr Tureček ◽  
Oliver Scott Curry
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Behaviour ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Common ◽  
Specific Culture ◽  
The Individual

Do appeals to moral values increase compliance with COVID-19 public health measures? According to the theory of ‘Morality as cooperation’, morality consists of a collection of cooperative principles that help us get along, work together and promote the common good. We experimentally investigated whether messages that appeal to these moral principles increase pandemic-related public health behaviour. We investigated: (a) Are moral messages more effective than non-moral messages? (b) Are some moral messages more effective than others? c) Is the effectiveness of moral messages dependant on the corresponding moral values of the individual? (d) Do these effects hold across cultures? Participants (recruited from the USA and India) were presented with one of ten messages, asked questions about their intentions to follow the restrictions, were asked to donate to a charity fighting COVID-19, and completed the Morality-as-Cooperation Relevance Questionnaire. We found that: (a) Moral messages were more effective in increasing the donation than a non-moral message and more effective in increasing the intentions to act prosocially than a lack of message. (b) Messages appealing to heroism increased the intentions to act prosocially in both samples. (c) The effectiveness of moral messages was better when they were concordant with participants’ moral values, but only in the USA sample. (d) We also found that some moral messages were effective only in a particular population. Thus, moral messages may increase compliance with public health guidelines, but it is necessary to appeal to particular values and to tailor these messages for a specific culture.

Individual and Institutional Religious Exemptions from Vaccines

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-523
Author(s):  
Cameo C. Anders ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Common ◽  
Decision Making Framework ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Religious Exemption

Under federal law, an individual religious exemption from vaccines is valid when it is based on subjective, sincere beliefs rooted in religion but not dependent on the existence, veracity, or accurate understanding or application of denominational tenets or doctrines. Despite the subjective nature of the individual religious exemption, Catholic institutions may recognize or deny (under certain circumstances) individual religious exemptions on the basis of the institution’s own religious exemptions. For example, under the doctrine of the common good, the significant risk to the community presented by non-vaccinated individuals could be grounds for an institution to deny an individual’s otherwise valid religious exemption. This paper attempts to clarify the decision-making framework used by law to balance individual religious exemptions and compelling state interests, then proposes a similar decision-making framework, consistent with Catholic moral principles, for religious institutions to use when balancing individual conscience objections and compelling duties to society.

The Individual, the State, and Ethnic Communities in Political Theory

1977 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon Van Dyke
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Common View ◽  
Moral Claims ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual

Liberal political theory and contemporary expositions of human rights focus largely on the individual. Some liberal theorists even deny that ethnic communities and other groups, as collective entities, can have moral rights at all. The outlook is narrow and unfortunate. It reflects a preoccupation with domestic politics and a model of domestic politics that neglects the common fact of heterogeneity. It ignores widespread practices and urgent problems, for in many countries groups identified by race, language, or religion make moral claims, and their claims are sometimes conceded. It ignores the common view that nations or “peoples” have a (moral) right of self-determination, and it even leaves the state itself without justification. If theory is to give adequate guidance, its focus must be broadened. The question of group rights needs to be explored, and interrelationships between the rights of individuals, of groups, and of the state need to be clarified.

Glossy Global Leadership

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Wolfgang Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Global Leadership ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Common View ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Common ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Critical Reflections

This chapter takes a fresh look at religious arguments and debates in the context of the Afghan Jihad of the 1980s and early 1990s. Drawing on unexplored journals published by various Mujahidin parties in Persian (Dari), Urdu, Arabic, and English, it questions the common view of Afghans being exclusively at the financial and intellectual mercy of their foreign backers. Instead, I show how Afghan participants in the Jihad emphasized the international calling and the global implications of their own military and political efforts. I also argue that the experience of the Jihad gave rise not only to new conceptions of the individual, the family, and the nation. It also sparked critical reflections on the future political structure of a liberated Afghanistan that differed notably from ideological visions penned by Arab authors based in the borderlands straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Red Neuronal Pigment in the Nervous System of the Mussel, Mytilus Edulis: Localization and Its Effect on Lateral Ciliary Activity with Spectral and Analytical Changes

1981 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 494-495
Author(s):  
Anthony A. Paparo ◽  
Judith A. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Mytilus Edulis ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Ciliary Activity ◽  
Neuronal Cell Bodies ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Intracellular Organelles ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cryostat Sections

The purpose of this study was to localize the red neuronal pigment in Mytilus edulis and examine its role in the control of lateral ciliary activity in the gill. The visceral ganglia (Vg) in the central nervous system show an over al red pigmentation. Most red pigments examined in squash preps and cryostat sec tions were localized in the neuronal cell bodies and proximal axon regions. Unstained cryostat sections showed highly localized patches of this pigment scattered throughout the cells in the form of dense granular masses about 5-7 um in diameter, with the individual granules ranging from 0.6-1.3 um in diame ter. Tissue stained with Gomori's method for Fe showed bright blue granular masses of about the same size and structure as previously seen in unstained cryostat sections.Thick section microanalysis (Fig.l) confirmed both the localization and presence of Fe in the nerve cell. These nerve cells of the Vg share with other pigmented photosensitive cells the common cytostructural feature of localization of absorbing molecules in intracellular organelles where they are tightly ordered in fine substructures.

Articulatory Generalization in Two Word-Medial, Ambisyllabic Contexts

1988 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia I. Wolfe ◽  
Suzanne D. Blocker ◽  
Norma J. Prater
Keyword(s):  
Common View ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unitary Concept ◽  
Over Time

Articulatory generalization of velar cognates /k/, /g/ in two phonologically disordered children was studied over time as a function of sequential word-morpheme position training. Although patterns of contextual acquisition differed, correct responses to the word-medial, inflected context (e.g., "picking," "hugging") occurred earlier and exceeded those to the word-medial, noninflected context (e.g., "bacon," "wagon"). This finding indicates that the common view of the word-medial position as a unitary concept is an oversimplification. Possible explanations for superior generalization to the word-medial, inflected position are discussed in terms of coarticulation, perceptual salience, and the representational integrity of the word.

Current issues in aesthetics and beyond: Revisiting lookism

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Peter Takáč
Keyword(s):  
Plastic Surgery ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Common View ◽  
Aesthetic Medicine ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Public Status ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common

AbstractLookism is a term used to describe discrimination based on the physical appearance of a person. We suppose that the social impact of lookism is a philosophical issue, because, from this perspective, attractive people have an advantage over others. The first line of our argumentation involves the issue of lookism as a global ethical and aesthetical phenomenon. A person’s attractiveness has a significant impact on the social and public status of this individual. The common view in society is that it is good to be more attractive and healthier. This concept generates several ethical questions about human aesthetical identity, health, authenticity, and integrity in society. It seems that this unequal treatment causes discrimination, diminishes self-confidence, and lowers the chance of a job or social enforcement for many human beings. Currently, aesthetic improvements are being made through plastic surgery. There is no place on the human body that we cannot improve with plastic surgery or aesthetic medicine. We should not forget that it may result in the problem of elitism, in dividing people into primary and secondary categories. The second line of our argumentation involves a particular case of lookism: Melanie Gaydos. A woman that is considered to be a model with a unique look.

PERSOALAN KEHIDUPAN KONTEMPORER: MENGGAGAS KAJIAN SACHEDINA TENTANG THEOLOGI PLURALISME

EMPIRISMA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Limas Dodi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Common View ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Religious Differences

According to Abdulaziz Sachedina, the main argument of religious pluralism in the Qur’an based on the relationship between private belief (personal) and public projection of Islam in society. By regarding to private faith, the Qur’an being noninterventionist (for example, all forms of human authority should not be disturb the inner beliefs of individuals). While the public projection of faith, the Qur’an attitude based on the principle of coexistence. There is the willingness of the dominant race provide the freedom for people of other faiths with their own rules. Rules could shape how to run their affairs and to live side by side with the Muslims. Thus, based on the principle that the people of Indonesia are Muslim majority, it should be a mirror of a societie’s recognizion, respects and execution of religious pluralism. Abdul Aziz Sachedina called for Muslims to rediscover the moral concerns of public Islam in peace. The call for peace seemed to indicate that the existence of increasingly weakened in the religious sense of the Muslims and hence need to be reaffi rmed. Sachedina also like to emphasize that the position of peace in Islam is parallel with a variety of other doctrines, such as: prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and so on. Sachedina also tried to show the argument that the common view among religious groups is only one religion and traditions of other false and worthless. “Antipluralist” argument comes amid the reality of human religious differences. Keywords: Theology, Pluralism, Abdulaziz Sachedina

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