War, Terrorism, and Violence

There are three major traditions in thinking about the ethics of war: Realism sees war as the suspension of all ethical rules and norms; to a realist, war is nonmoral (war is hell). Pacifism sees war as an immoral, gross violation of ethics. Pacifists believe that on should follow evil with kindness. Just war theory seeks to identify the right reasons for going to war (jus ad bellum) and right conduct in war (jus in bello). Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons complicate the moral analysis in just war theory, but the three basic alternatives realism, pacifism, and just war are not altered. These three alternatives also may be applied to terrorism and violence, with only slight modifications of certain details.