Citation

Shah N. Crit. Stud. Secur. 2019; 7(3): 210-218.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/21624887.2019.1702367

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In War and the Politics of Ethics, Maja Zehfuss asks, "Would we take the risk of engaging in the highly destructive practice of war on the basis of ethico-political judgements that are inevitably precarious?" Why would we decide to fight war if ethical limits have a fragile hold on the monstrosities that might be unleashed by largescale violence? Said differently, would we fight war if the ability to prevent atrocity is demonstrably tenuous? Examining both the technical and ethical calibration of bullets, in this essay argue that we would and do. War is precarious because it is inherently about decisions to do all sorts of pernicious things - of which killing other human beings is not just the distinctive act but done in distinctive ways.

Language: en

Keywords

ethics; War; weaponry; wounding