War, Torture and Terrorism

David Rodin holds research posts at the University of Oxford and the Australian National University and is a leading expert in the ethics of war. His previous books include The Ethics of War: Shared Problems in Different Traditions and War and Self-Defense (2006), which received the APA Sharp Prize. He has worked as a teacher and consultant for NATO, the European Science Foundation, UNESCO and the British Military.

“The authors took obvious care to set out their arguments in as clear a fashion as possible. They are not the kind of philosophers who populate indecipherably intricate sentences with legions of exotic terms. Rather, they practice the disciplined use of facts, ethical theories, legal literature, and even a degree of common sense to arrive at a better understanding of genuinely vital issues. War, Torture and Terrorism could easily be adapted for use in undergraduate philosophy courses. More importantly, it should be warmly welcomed by those members of the lay public who are interested in thinking beyond the limits of sound-bite rhetoric and five hundred word opeds.” (Metapsychology, December 2008)

• List of Contributors vii1 Introduction 1The Ethics of War: State of the ArtDavid Rodin2 Luck, Evidence and War 7Rob Lawlor3 Defending the Common Life: National-Defense After Rodin 19Deane-Peter Baker4 Humanitarian Intervention: Closing the Gap Between Theory and Practice 35Gillian Brock5 Iraq: A Morally Justified Resort to War 51David Mellow6 Moral Tragedies, Supreme Emergencies and National-Defense 71Daniel Statman7 Assassination and Targeted Killing: Law Enforcement, Execution of Self-Defense? 83Michael L. Gross8 Torture – The Case for Dirty Harry and Against Alan Dershowitz 97Uwe Steinhoff9 Torture, Terrorism and the State: a Refutation of the Ticking-Bomb Argument 115Vittorio Bufacchi and Jean Maria ArrigoIndex 133