The just war tradition as we know it has its origins with Christian theology. In
this dissertation, I examine the theological, in particular ontological, presuppositions of
St. Augustine of Hippo in his elucidation of just war. By doing so, I show how certain
metaphysical ideas of St. Augustine (especially those on existence, love, and the
sovereignty of God) shaped the just war tradition. Following this, I examine the slow
evacuation of his metaphysics from the just war tradition. Through the systemization of
just war by St. Thomas Aquinas, aided later on by Bartolomé de Las Casas and Hugo
Grotius, the doctrine became a shadowy reflection of the tradition. By analyzing the
notions of morality in warfare by political realists (Waltz, Morgenthau), international
law, and liberal thinkers (Rawls, Walzer), I show the incoherence of the doctrine when it
is separated from its ontological and metaphysical roots.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/4715 |
| Date | 25 April 2007 |
| Creators | Gray, Phillip Wesley |
| Contributors | Nederman, Cary J. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 876328 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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