Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: War and Peace

  • Sex, War, and Moral Rigorism: The Aporetics of Moral Evaluation

    Fr. Robert Barron here fruitfully compares the Catholic Church's rigoristic teaching on matters sexual, with its prohibitions of masturbation, artificial contraception, and extramarital sex, with the rigorism of the Church's teaching with respect to just war.  An excellent article. Although Fr. Barron doesn't say it explicitly, he implies that the two topics are on a…

  • Don’t Do It, Mr. President!

    Pay attention for a change to people who actually know something and can think straight such as Victor Davis Hanson and Charles Krauthammer.  At a bare minimum, make the case to the American people and consult with congress. A simple question that John Kerry does not address in his case for intervention is the one posed by Hanson:…

  • “Going to War Without the French . . .

    . . . is like going hunting without an accordion."  A line from Mark Steyn's brilliant column, An Accidental War. Liberating Syria isn’t like liberating the Netherlands: In the Middle East, the enemy of our enemy is also our enemy. Yes, those BBC images of schoolchildren with burning flesh are heart-rending. So we’ll get rid…

  • Should the U. S. Intervene in Syria?

    Didn't we learn anything from Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan?  Prudence dictates that we stay out of Syria, or at least that we look very carefully before we leap.  Here is a balanced treatment of the pros and cons by Ron Radosh.  And this guest post by William Polk at Robert Paul Wolff's place is well…

  • The Sea Battle Tomorrow

    The soldier's operations in the field are often encumbered by the presence of civilians and considerations of 'collateral damage.'  The seaman's is a purer form of combat.  Ships far out at sea.  All hands combatants. No civilians to get in the way.  Less worry over environmental degradation.  The 'purity' of naval over land warfare.  Bellicosity…

  • Kevin Kim on the Mourning of the Morning After

    Kevin Kim has been following me since late 2003 before I was a proper blogger commencing 4 May 2004 and only a mere slogger (slow blogger without the proper software: I'd upload batches of short posts to a website that I have long since taken down). In his Conservatives Mourn, Kevin links to me, Malcolm…

  • Pacifism and Abortion

    If you are a pacifist, why aren't you also pro-life?  If you oppose the killing of human beings, how can you not oppose the killing of defenceless human beings, innocent human beings?  You call yourself a liberal.  You pride yourself on 'speaking truth to power' and for defending the weak and disadvantaged.  Well, how much…

  • Militarization and Weaponization of Space

    Some warn of the militarization of space as if it has not already been militarized. It has been, and for a long time now. How long depending on how high up you deem space begins. Are they who warn unaware of spy satellites? Of Gary Powers and the U-2 incident? Of the V-2s that crashed…

  • A War to End All Wars

    A war to end all wars would have to be a war to end all actual and  potential warriors, which is to say — a war to end humanity.

  • What Price War?

    A report from The Independent Institute on American foreign policy.

  • More Mail on Prager, Osama, Judaism, and Pacifism

    Hi Bill, I was a bit surprised to read that in response to your post about tempering one's joy at Osama's demise, "Prager pointed out that the Jews rejoiced when the Red Sea closed around the Egyptians, and that this rejoicing was  pleasing to God." First, I was surprised because a quick look at Exodus…

  • Of Gods and Men

    This appears to be a movie worth seeing.  Discussion by Rod Dreher in The Gethsemane of the Monks.  Resist not the evildoer and let yourself be slaughtered?

  • The Notion of a Cumulative Case

     In a comment thread Tony Hanson asked me if I had written a post on cumulative-case arguments.  After some digging, I located one that I had written 24 August 2004.  Here it is for what its worth.  ……………   Suppose you have a good reason R1 to do X. Then along comes a second good…

  • On Smiting One’s Political Enemies

    Tony Hanson e-mails from the once-great state of California whose governor-elect is once again Governor Moonbeam: I see you had Berlin's essay in your library and reread it. I just wanted to say I don't think that we are in quite the bind you describe since there still seems to be a lot of room…

  • Visualize Using Your Turn Signals

    This is one of my favorite bumper stickers, and not just because there are all too many motorists clogging the roads who seem unacquainted with the function of turn signals. The sticker is a parody of ‘Visualize World Peace’ (‘Visualize Whirled Peas’). Visualizing something as nebulous and utopian as world peace is about as pointless…