Robert L. Holmes is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Rochester, USA. His main research is in philosophy of war, the ethics of nonviolence, and contemporary moral problems. He is the author of Basic Moral Philosophy (2006) and On War and Morality (1989), co-author of Philosophical Inquiry (1968), and co-editor of Nonviolence in Theory and Practice (1990). He has published over 75 scholarly papers.

Robert L. Holmes has been one of those who never lost sight of war's importance and the urgency of crafting alternatives … His new book will be a reference point for all further discussions of the topic.

• IntroductionPART 1Chapter 1: Reconceptualizing War1.1 Absolute War 1.2 The Interests of the People, the State, and the People Who Rule the State.1.3 Absolute Violence 1.4 Between War and Peace1.5 Cyber War and Robotics1.6 Toward an Ontology of War1.7 Paradoxes of War1.8 War, Warfare, and Warmaking1.9 Synoptic WarChapter 2: The Presumption Against War2.1 The Ends of Morality and Warfare2.2 War and Killing2.3 Act Types and Act Tokens2.4 The Presumptive Wrongness of Deliberately Killing Persons2.5 Is Wrongdoing Inescapable?2.6 The Presumptive Wrongness of WarChapter 3: Realism and War3.1 Positive and Nonpositive Realism3.2 Descriptive, Necessitarian, and Normative Realism3.3 Can it be Immoral to Act Morally? 3.4 War and Morality3.5 Value Language and Deontic Language3.6 Synoptic War Neither Right Nor Wrong. 3.7 Warfare Always Subject to Moral Assessment 3.8 Micro and Macro Ethics3.9 Collective Ethics a Category MistakePART 2Chapter 4: Augustine on Ethics and War4.1 Augustine and the Just War Tradition4.2 Was Augustine a Personal Pacifist?4.3 Augustine’s Subjectivism4.4 Motives and Right Conduct4.5 Personal Pacifism and Clean Hands4.6 Augustine’s Authoritarianism4.7 Killing Out of ObedienceChapter 5: Anatomy of the Just War Theory5.1 The Just War Tradition and Just War Theory5.2 Moral War Theory5.3 Just War Internalism and Externalism5.4 What Does Jus Ad Bellum Entitle One to Do?5.5 Intention, Double Effect, and Deliberate Wartime Killing.5.6 Right Intention and the Resort to War.5.7 Right Intention and Individual Combatants.5.8 Just War Theory’s Further Implications.5.9 License to KillChapter 6: Self-Defense and the Alleged Moral Equality of Soldiers6.1. War and Self-Defense6.2 A Walzerian Argument for the Moral Equality of Soldiers.6.3 Personal Self-Defense.6.4 Self-Defense as a Moral Concept.6.5 Self-Defense and the Presumptive Wrongness of Killing.6.6 Personal and Collective Self-Defense.6.7 Defending a Common Life.6.8 Self-defense and Liability.6.9 Self-defense and Just Cause6.10 Potential Soldiers and Their “Epistemic Duties”Chapter 7: Just Cause and the Killing of Innocents7.1 Killing Innocents Inherent in Warfare7.2 Killing and Letting Die7.3 Intentional and Foreseeable Killing.7.4 The Counterfactual Test7.5 A Differential Restriction7.6 Incidental Harm?7.7 Hypothetical Cases7.8 Does a Just Cause permit Killing Innocents?7.9 The Nazi and the Just Warrior7.10 The Infringement and Disrespectful Violation of Rights.7.11 Do Good Motives Suffice?Part 3Chapter 8: The Vietnam War8.1 Vietnam a Turning Point for America8.2 The Indochina War8.3 The Creation of South Vietnam8.4 Beginning of the Vietnam War8.5 External Aggression or Civil War?8.6 The Nature of the War8.7 My Lai Unexceptional8.8 Does Vietnam Defeat the Presumption Against War?8.9 “Revisionist” HistoryChapter 9: The Gulf and Iraq Wars in Light of Western Imperialism and Just War Theory9.1 Continuity Between the Gulf War and the Iraq War9.2 Western Imperialism in the Persian Gulf9.3 A Monroe Doctrine for the Persian Gulf9.4 The Gulf War and Just War Theory9.5 Was the Gulf War a Last Resort?9.6 Just War Theory ModifiedChapter 10: Kosovo10.1 The Gulf War and the Kosovo Intervention10.2 Historical Context 10.3 Civil Conflict10.4 An Attempted Military Solution10.5 Illegal NATO Intervention10.6 The Killing of Civilians10.7 The Moral IssuePART 4Chapter 11: The Metaethics of Pacifism11.1 The Argument Continued11.2 Actionable Wrongness11.3 Pragmatic Pacifism11.4 A Theoretical Objection to Pacifism11.5 A Pacifist Rejoinder11.6 A Second Pacifist Rejoinder11.7 Consequentialist Considerations 11.8 Act Utilitarianism 11.9 Some Implications11.10 Mediated and Unmediated Consequences Chapter 12: Pacifism and Humanitarian Military Intervention12.1 The Plight of Individuals Worldwide.12.2 What is Humanitarian Intervention?12.3 Why is Humanitarian Intervention Problematic?12.4 Rights versus Sovereignty12.5 The Responsibility to Protect12.6 The Problem for Pacifism12.7 Epistemic Problems with Humanitarian Military Intervention12.8 Military Intervention12.9 War, Just War Theory, and Humanitarian Intervention12.10 “Humanitarian” intervention in the Real WorldChapter 13: Terrorism, Violence, and Nonviolence13.1 What Is Terrorism?13.2 Stereotyping13.3 Terrorism and the Killing of Innocents13.4 Militarization of the Campaign Against Terrorism13.5 The Violence of War and TerrorismChapter 14: Toward a Nonviolent World Order 14.1 Pragmatic Contextualism 14.2 Support of Troops14.3 Troops and Their Mission14.4 Patriotism14.5 Existential Pacifism14.6 Transforming Young People into Trained Killers14.7 Logic and War14.8 Consequences and Proportionality14.9 Motives and Intentions Again14.10 A Secular Garden of Eden14.11 Bringing Good out of EvilConclusionBibliographyIndex