War
TagAmerican Philosophers Should Condemn the War in Gaza (guest post)
“American academic philosophers should speak out to condemn the Israeli assault on Gaza.” (more…)
Moral Philosophy as War Propaganda (guest post)
“The hellish reality of this war is transfigured by philosophers into abstract thought experiments and technical prose.” (more…)
Disproportionate and Intended Harm to Innocents in Israel’s War in Gaza (guest post)
“Experts on just war disagree on what precisely counts as permissible proportion. But clearly this is grossly disproportionate.”
Philosophy’s Importance in “Times Like These”
The Los Angeles Review of Books has just concluded publishing a series of articles on the importance of philosophy in “times like these”. (more…)
Israel, Hamas, and “Blowback” (guest post)
“The proportionality constraint is backward-looking in the following sense: to determine how bad a prospective harm is for a potential innocent victim, we sometimes need to look at what that victim has suffered in the past, and whether we’re responsible for what they’ve suffered” as well as “whether we should have acted differently in the past thereby avoiding the n..
Proportionality, Psychic Harm, and the Day After (guest post)
“Once we count psychic harm, it looks like Israel’s war might be proportional. But it could be proportional only if the Israelis aren’t imposing on basically all Gazans a greater psychic burden than the psychic burden that Israelis hope to avoid,” which could be the case “if Israel takes it upon itself, as soon as possible, to reassure the Gazans that Gaza will not ..
There Is No Military Objective In Gaza (guest post)
“There is no feasible or achievable military goal, legitimate or otherwise, for Israel’s bloody campaign in Gaza.” (more…)
Israel & Hamas: Another Letter, Another Critical Response (updated)
As mentioned in an update to this post, a group of philosophers posted an open letter, dated November 1, 2023, under the heading “Philosophy for Palestine.” (more…)
How Not To Intervene In Public Discourse (guest post) (several updates)
“I think that philosophers (and other intellectuals and academics) can sometimes offer valuable contributions to public discourse. Still, I think this letter is a paradigmatic example of how not to do so.” (more…)
Israel, Hamas, and the Narratives of Atrocity (guest post)
“The need to stop the narratives that rationalize what is indefensible is clear. How to stop such narratives is not.” (more…)
Open Letter on the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza from Oxford Researchers
“We implore you to call for an immediate cessation to Israel’s morally disastrous attack on Gaza, and for Israel to allow the free passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, in addition to continuing to call on Hamas to release the Israeli hostages.” (more…)
Philosophers for Ukraine Project
Anton Tarasyuk, a Ukrainian, currently in Kyiv, with an MA in philosophy, is part of a group launching the project, “Philosophers for Ukraine.” (more…)
Ways to Help Ukraine
Daniel (Daniil) M. Ozernyi of Northwestern University writes:
I am a Ukrainian. I am sure you are aware of the situation which befell my country over the last few days. (more…)
APA Awards Prize for Work on Philosophy of War and Peace
Every other year, the American Philosophical Association (APA) awards its Frank Chapman Sharp Memorial Prize to “the best unpublished essay or monograph on the philosophy of war and peace submitted for the competition.” (more…)
Philosophy of War Audio Miniseries Available
A new philosophy show is in the works, and its creator has made three of its episodes—which together make up a miniseries on the philosophy of war—available to anyone teaching a course to which they would be relevant. (more…)
New Blog on the Ethics of War
The Ethical War Blog is a new group blog hosted by the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace. The Centre’s Jonathan Parry writes:
The Ethical War Blog will publish short and timely opinion articles on war-related topics in the news, written by specialists in the field, in an accessible and digestible format. The blog launches with five articles, with n..
Philosophers on the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict
Jason Stanley (Yale) has a piece in today’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, a German newspaper. It is entitled “An Open Letter to the Protestors on the streets of Berlin chanting ‘Jude, Jude, feiges Schwein, komm heraus und kämpf allein’ ”” which looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reactions to it, as well as the ideas of democracy and pluralism, through the lens ..