The Ethics of Preemptive Warfare

With issues such as the Syrian Civil War taking a central role in current political discussion, it is important to understand fully what is occurring in the ethical conversations surrounding it. There are three philosophies that represent the ethics of war. These philosophical schools are referred to as Realism, Pacifism and Just War Theory. Because both Pacifism and Realism fail to adequately frame ethics in times of conflict, Just War Theory should be used to determine whether preemptive wars are ever ethical. This means that only by following the strict framework of Just War Theory, is it possible to properly map the answer to the issue of whether preemptive war is ever ethically justifiable. This paper argues that because of the ways in which preemptive warfare violates Just War Theory, it can never be ethically justified. Faculty mentor: Dawn Gal