Bertrand Russell Essay
Páginas: 6 (1303 palabras)
Publicado: 17 de febrero de 2013
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ASTUDILLO, Carina
Final Research Draft – First Draft
Literatura Inglesa del Siglo XX
Sun, 12 Aug 2012
ESSAY
The Ethics of War by Bertrand Russell
“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.”
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell's essay published in 1915 during development of the First World War, approachedfrom the standpoint of philosophical ethics, the question of if war can be justified. Thus, the author proposes a "classification" of different kinds of war, which have different justifications.
To introduce the subject, it is important to note that ethics is a branch of philosophy that attempts to answer questions relating to the exercise of good and evil in the human behaviour. Fromthis point of view, the author tries to show the reasons or justifications for the war from this perspective.
Thus, Russell states: "The question of rights and wrongs of a particular war is generally considered from a juridical or quasi-juridical standpoint…”, and add: “Within a State, private war is forbidden, and the disputes of private citizens are settled, not by their own force, but bythe force of the police, which, being overwhelming, very seldom needs to be explicitly displayed.”. I think this reasoning is valid and consistent, and raises an interesting question, why in a country the laws reduce risk of war, and not true in the international context? I personally believe that some countries use treaties or agreements as a "screen" or "masks" to hide their true intentions,which contain purely economic ambitions, about these Russell says: “There is, it is true, a body of conventions called international law, and there are innumerable treaties between High Contracting Powers. But the conventions and the treaties differ from anything that could properly be called law by the absence of sanction: there is no police force able or willing to enforce their observance.”To assess whether a war is justified or not, we must analyze several points that contain armed conflicts, such as: the loss of life, but other victims and combatants, people living in the conflict zone, plus the damage economic, cultural, moral, social and psychological. In this regard Russell states: "Of all the evils of war the greatest, in my opinion, is the purely spiritual evil: thehatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth.....”
No doubt this thought involves a rhetorical question in regard to "justify war" because it is clear that in these situations, outweigh the negative consequences (bad) than positive (good), if any.
In the classification Russell, the different types of war, we observe the following:
On the one hand the war of colonization, whichthe author defines it this way: “By a war of colonization I mean a war whose purpose is to drive out the whole population of some territory and replace it by an invading population of a different race.” but also adds the following: " Nevertheless, if we are to judge by results, we cannot regret that such wars have taken place. They have the merit, often quite fallaciously claimed for all wars, ofleading in the main to the survival of the fittest, and it is chiefly through such wars that the civilized portion of the world has been extended from the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean to the greater part of the earth's surface.”, with respect to the latter I must say that I disagree at all, I consider that can never justify a war, let alone to have the mistaken belief of the superiority ofeither of the two sides, I think that when he raises this creates a great contradiction, when compared with others of its manifestations.
Russell also compares this type of conflict between old age and today, when he says: “What are nowadays called colonial wars do not aim at the complete occupation of a country by a conquering race; they aim only at securing certain governmental and trading...
ASTUDILLO, Carina
Final Research Draft – First Draft
Literatura Inglesa del Siglo XX
Sun, 12 Aug 2012
ESSAY
The Ethics of War by Bertrand Russell
“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.”
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell's essay published in 1915 during development of the First World War, approachedfrom the standpoint of philosophical ethics, the question of if war can be justified. Thus, the author proposes a "classification" of different kinds of war, which have different justifications.
To introduce the subject, it is important to note that ethics is a branch of philosophy that attempts to answer questions relating to the exercise of good and evil in the human behaviour. Fromthis point of view, the author tries to show the reasons or justifications for the war from this perspective.
Thus, Russell states: "The question of rights and wrongs of a particular war is generally considered from a juridical or quasi-juridical standpoint…”, and add: “Within a State, private war is forbidden, and the disputes of private citizens are settled, not by their own force, but bythe force of the police, which, being overwhelming, very seldom needs to be explicitly displayed.”. I think this reasoning is valid and consistent, and raises an interesting question, why in a country the laws reduce risk of war, and not true in the international context? I personally believe that some countries use treaties or agreements as a "screen" or "masks" to hide their true intentions,which contain purely economic ambitions, about these Russell says: “There is, it is true, a body of conventions called international law, and there are innumerable treaties between High Contracting Powers. But the conventions and the treaties differ from anything that could properly be called law by the absence of sanction: there is no police force able or willing to enforce their observance.”To assess whether a war is justified or not, we must analyze several points that contain armed conflicts, such as: the loss of life, but other victims and combatants, people living in the conflict zone, plus the damage economic, cultural, moral, social and psychological. In this regard Russell states: "Of all the evils of war the greatest, in my opinion, is the purely spiritual evil: thehatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth.....”
No doubt this thought involves a rhetorical question in regard to "justify war" because it is clear that in these situations, outweigh the negative consequences (bad) than positive (good), if any.
In the classification Russell, the different types of war, we observe the following:
On the one hand the war of colonization, whichthe author defines it this way: “By a war of colonization I mean a war whose purpose is to drive out the whole population of some territory and replace it by an invading population of a different race.” but also adds the following: " Nevertheless, if we are to judge by results, we cannot regret that such wars have taken place. They have the merit, often quite fallaciously claimed for all wars, ofleading in the main to the survival of the fittest, and it is chiefly through such wars that the civilized portion of the world has been extended from the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean to the greater part of the earth's surface.”, with respect to the latter I must say that I disagree at all, I consider that can never justify a war, let alone to have the mistaken belief of the superiority ofeither of the two sides, I think that when he raises this creates a great contradiction, when compared with others of its manifestations.
Russell also compares this type of conflict between old age and today, when he says: “What are nowadays called colonial wars do not aim at the complete occupation of a country by a conquering race; they aim only at securing certain governmental and trading...
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