University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 4-8-2016 Kant's Just War Theory Steven Charles Starke University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Scholar Commons Citation Starke, Steven Charles, "Kant's Just War Theory" (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6398 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Kant’s Just War Theory by Steven C. Starke A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor Martin: Schönfeld, Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Sidney Axinn, Ph.D. Stephen P. Turner, Ph.D. Brook J. Sadler, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 31, 2016 Keywords: Orend, Williams, Universal Just War Theory, Traditional Just War Theory, Communist Just War Theory Copyright © 2016, Steven C. Starke Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Hugo Grotius and the Origins of Traditional Just War Theory .........................................2 The Nature of War ...............................................................................................2 Principles of Just War ..........................................................................................5 Jus Ad Bellum......................................................................................................5 Jus In Bello ..........................................................................................................6 Jus post Bellum ....................................................................................................8 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................9 Forde Interprets Grotius ................................................................................................. 10 Kant’s View of Grotius .................................................................................................. 14 Conclusions from Interpreters ........................................................................................ 16 The Project Outlined ...................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 1 – Orend on Kant’s Just War Theory .......................................................................... 21 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 21 Justifying the Resort to War........................................................................................... 22 Jus ad Bellum ................................................................................................................ 32 Preliminaries ...................................................................................................... 32 Declaration of War ............................................................................................. 34 Just Cause .......................................................................................................... 36 Just Intent .......................................................................................................... 37 Midpoint Analysis .............................................................................................. 39 Macro-Proportionality ........................................................................................ 40 Last Resort ......................................................................................................... 41 Chance of Success.............................................................................................. 42 Final Analysis .................................................................................................... 43 Jus in Bello .................................................................................................................... 44 Discrimination ................................................................................................... 46 Micro-Proportionality ........................................................................................ 50 Heinous Means .................................................................................................. 51 General Criticisms ............................................................................................. 53 Jus post Bellum ............................................................................................................. 58 Guiding Notions ................................................................................................. 58 Just Cause .......................................................................................................... 59 Right Intent ........................................................................................................ 60 Public Declaration .............................................................................................. 61 i Discrimination ................................................................................................... 62 Proportionality ................................................................................................... 63 Critique .............................................................................................................. 63 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 2 – Howard Williams’ Interpretation of Kant ............................................................... 68 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 68 The Concept of War in Kant’s Works ............................................................................ 69 First Look .......................................................................................................... 70 Simari’s Work .................................................................................................... 71 Perpetual Peace .................................................................................................. 73 As a Metaphor.................................................................................................... 74 Williams’ Outline of the Problem of Kant and Just War Theory..................................... 75 War as Disease ................................................................................................... 75 Setting-up the Debate ......................................................................................... 76 Important Intermediate Conclusions ................................................................... 78 Williams’ Argument against the Agreement of Perpetual Peace and Metaphysics of Morals ............................................................................................................... 79 Sorry Comforters ............................................................................................... 80 Intellectual Influences ........................................................................................ 81 Williams’ Argument for the Underlying Agreement ...................................................... 83 Taking International Law Seriously .................................................................... 84 Domestic Law .................................................................................................... 86 International State of Nature .............................................................................. 88 Williams’ Kantian Interpretation Expanded ................................................................... 90 Other Thinkers ................................................................................................... 91 Unjust Enemy and Potentia Tremenda ................................................................ 93 Williams on Kant and Humanitarian Intervention .......................................................... 97 Case One............................................................................................................ 97 Case Two ........................................................................................................... 98 Case Three ....................................................................................................... 100 Kant’s International Law .................................................................................. 101 Perfect or Imperfect Duty ................................................................................. 103 Critique of Williams .................................................................................................... 104 Conclusion .................................................................................................................