A Hobbesian Approach to Cruelty and the Rules of War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12188068 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Larry May (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 293-313 |
| Publication date | 2013-05-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Leiden Journal of International Law (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0922-1565 • E-ISSN: 1478-9698 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0922156513000058 |
| OpenAlex | W2069360607 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
Contrary to the way Hobbes has been interpreted for centuries, I will argue that Hobbes laid the groundwork for contemporary international law and for a distinctly moral approach to the rules of war. The paper has the following structure. First, I will explain the role that the laws of nature play in Hobbes's understanding of the state of war. Second, I will explain Hobbes's views of self-preservation and inflicting cruelty. Third, I reconstruct Hobbes's important insight that rationality governs all human affairs, even those concerning war. Fourth, I explicate the idea of cruelty moving from what Hobbes says to a plausible Hobbesian position. Fifth, I address recent philosophical writing on how best to understand the rules of war. Sixth, I then turn to legal discussions of cruelty's place in debates about the laws of war, showing how my Hobbesian approach can ground these laws
Cruelty · Epistemology · Just war theory · Political science · Rationality · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · State (computer science · State of nature · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought · War, Ethics, and Justification
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |