War's Ends

A rigorous moral compass for war-making is needed, now more than ever, because war has become anonymous. Bombing and artillery allow those who kill never to look in the eyes of their victims. Scope for compassion or discretion is removed. This book restores the moral compass for war that a century of technological advance has taken away.

--John Bruton, former European Union ambassador to the United States and prime minister (Taoiseach) of Ireland

In the best thinking about just war, reflection on the morality of the use of armed force is joined to consideration of the purposes of good politics, with the use of force to be in support of those purposes. War's Ends is a book of this sort, employing the frame of the categories of the just war jus ad bellum both to examine a conception of politics as the service of the common good and to explore the morality of the use of armed force. In the process Murphy, though intentionally writing in dialogue with recent philosophy, returns to the core conceptions that defined the idea of just war in its classic historical form, prioritizing the end of peace and right authority for determining the justice of a use of force and the dependency of the other jus ad bellum ideas on these. This is a thoughtful, nuanced book that should provoke reflection and debate.

--James Turner Johnson, Distinguished Professor, Department of Religion, Rutgers University

Murphy's approach is distinctive in offering an appreciation of the goods of peace, the significance of the political, and a reordering of the traditional criteria for just war making, giving priority to the requirement of competent authority and seeing just cause as dependent on it. His consideration of the common good in understanding the nature and purpose of states is a very welcome feature of this analysis.

--Patrick Riordan SJ, Heythrop College, University of London

This book provides us with something we need. Too many new books, in the recent explosion regarding wartime ethics, purport to offer us everything, on every subject. This book, by refreshing contrast, is a meditation solely upon the jus ad bellum (i.e., the rules of law and morality regulating the start of war). Pleasant to read, with conceptual clarity and many historical examples, James G. Murphy's book articulates the ends or reasons for fighting wars in the modern world. In doing so, he contributes significantly to our understanding not merely of just war theory but of the nature of armed conflict in our complex time. It's an excellent account--deeply and enjoyably scholarly--especially regarding the vital issues of political legitimacy and the proper authority for deploying force.

--Brian Orend, author of The Morality of War