Thomas Aquinas on War and Peace

Inquiring 'whether any war can be just', Thomas Aquinas famously responded that this may hold true, provided the war is conducted by a legitimate authority, for a just cause, and with an upright intention. Virtually all accounts of just war, from the Middle Ages to the current day, make reference to this threefold formula. But due in large measure to its very succinctness, Aquinas's theory has prompted contrasting interpretations. This book sets the record straight by surveying the wide range of texts in his literary corpus that have bearing on peace and the ethics of war. Thereby emerges a coherent and nuanced picture of just war as set within his systematic moral theory. It is shown how Aquinas deftly combined elements from earlier authors, and how his teaching has fruitfully propelled inquiry on this important topic by his fellow scholastics, later legal theorists such as Grotius, and contemporary philosophers of just war.

Author: Gregory M. Reichberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01/24/2019
Pages: 324
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.96lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d
ISBN: 9781108730167

About the Author
Reichberg, Gregory M.: - Gregory M. Reichberg is Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He has coedited several volumes, including Religion, War and Ethics: A Sourcebook of Textual Traditions (Cambridge, 2014), and Ethics of War: Classical and Contemporary Readings (2006). His recent publications include 'The Decision to Use Military Force in Classical Just War Thinking' in the Ashgate Research Companion on Military Ethics (2015), 'Historiography of Just War Theory' in the Oxford Handbook of War and Ethics (2016), and 'Jacques Maritain, Christian Just War Theorist' in the Journal of Military Ethics (2016).