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Higher RMPS > Belief & Conflict > Flashcards

Belief & Conflict Flashcards

1
Q

What is war?

A
  • An armed conflict between two political communities
  • Can be civil (American Civil War) or international (WW2)
  • Widespread
  • Intentional
  • War is not a gang fight or a feud
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2
Q

What are the two types of war?

A

Territorial Wars & Ideological Wars

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3
Q

Territorial Wars

A
  • Fought over; land & sea, resources (oil etc.), defending land, getting more land
  • Invaded over oil (Kuwait invaded by Iran)
  • Fighting to gain land (German expansion WW2)
  • Pre-emptive attack (get them first)
  • To protect citizens overseas
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4
Q

Ideological Wars

A
  • Fought over beliefs (Religious, political, national etc.)
  • Threat to particular way of life
  • Overcoming injustice (Removing ruler, Saddam Hussein)
  • Pursuing independence (Catalonia)
  • Preserving the status quo (Spain refusing Catalonian independence)
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5
Q

Effects of War

A
  • Escalation

- Destroys countries

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6
Q

Escalation

A
  • War can quickly grow, unintended consequences
  • Number of people affected grows more than needed
  • Weapons must be kept proportional with damage required not wanted
  • Is it still possible to emerge the victor
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7
Q

How does war destroy countries?

A
  • Pollution caused by chemical weapons
  • Land can no longer be used due to unexploded munitions
  • Nuclear fallout
  • Normal life is disrupted
  • Roads/property is destroyed & needs to be rebuilt
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8
Q

Examples of effects of war

A
  • Oil Wells of Kuwait during Gulf War of 1991 ($40billion damage costs)
  • Bombing of Dresden WW2 (Completely destroyed city)
  • Gulf War & tanks using depleted uranium shells
  • War kills people (17million WW1), psychological (PTSD)
  • Political vacuum (breeding ground for extremism)
  • Genocide/ethnic cleansing (Rwandan genocide, holocaust)
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9
Q

The cost of war

A
  • Human
  • Environmental
  • Economical
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10
Q

Human cost of war

A
  • Loss of civilian life
  • Psychological damage
  • Permanently disable
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11
Q

Environmental cost of war

A
  • Resources gone (Oil wells of Kuwait)
  • Introduces radioactivity (Disfigurements in Middle East due to depleted uranium from Gulf War)
  • Obliterated cities (Dresden)
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12
Q

Economic cost of war

A
  • Cost of rebuilding everything
  • Shortages of food/supplies
  • Money could have been spent elsewhere (health care or education)
  • Money spent on weapons/munitions equipment
  • Can also be profitable (Ship building, arms businesses etc.)
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13
Q

How can a war be justifiable or be carried out justly?

A
  • By following the international rules for going to war and the international rules for conducting war
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14
Q

Rules for going to war

A
  • You must have a just cause
  • You must have the right intentions (you must know why you are going to war)
  • You must have legitimate authority
  • Your war must be a necessary last resort
  • You must be reasonably certain of success
  • Your war is only just if it minimises harm on balance
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15
Q

Rules for conducting war

A
  • Discriminate between civilian targets and legitimate targets
  • Do not mistreat prisoners of war
  • Do not use illegal weapons
  • Proportionality (do not use more firepower than you need)
  • Do not use tactics that are bad in themselves (Don’t hide a soldier as a medic etc.)
  • Do not carry out ‘tit for tat’ attacks
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16
Q

The 10 Commandments and Conflict

A
  • Bible says “Thou shall not kill”
  • Jesus taught “Love thy neighbour”
  • Jesus taught the idea of turning the other cheek
  • Matt 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps your right cheek, turn to them the other check also.”
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17
Q

Types of Weapons

A
  • Conventional weapons

- Unconventional weapons

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18
Q

Conventional Weapons

A
  • Guns
  • Knives
  • Tanks etc.
  • Soldiers/Infantry, relatively short range, shooter can see enemy & so fairly accurate target
19
Q

Unconventional Weapons

A
  • A single weapon that can create enormous damage
  • Bombs
  • Smart Weapons
  • Nuclear weapons
  • Biological weapons
  • Nuclear, Biological are both weapons of mass destruction
20
Q

Biological Weapons

A
  • Weapons which release agents that cause the spread of disease
  • Anthrax (one of the world’s most deadly diseases), was used as weapon in 2009 when posted through mail & killed 5 people
21
Q

Nuclear Weapons

A
  • Atomic or nuclear bombs, bombs which unlock the power of nuclear fission
  • Nuclear weapons used in WW2 at Hiroshima & Nagasaki, around 240,000 killed by bombs (around 120,000 killed outright & rest from Injury/radiation)
  • Short, medium & long term damage
22
Q

Bombs

A
  • Cluster bomb, lots of small bombs split off to cover a much larger area, many land without exploding but will explode later, imprecise target area due to wideness
  • Landmines, hidden, can cause severe injury without killing, unexploded make farmland unusable, No specific target, people forget where they have been placed
23
Q

Smart Weapons

A
  • Laser guided missiles; Very precise, avoid civilians, can be fired from distance, no emotion required, no human connection, can’t see consequences
  • Drones; No pilot, destroyed drone different from dead soldier, cheaper, operators can’t see what they are firing at, no human connection
  • Computer assisted weapons, accurate, fast, no human connection, can be hacked
24
Q

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

A
  • Indiscriminate in damage caused
  • Can be deployed without army
  • Powerful, cause vast amounts of damage & devastation
  • Difficult to target
25
Q

Arguments for WMD

A
  • Useful to win war (threat could be enough)
  • Weapons easily concealed, delivered in secret
  • Deployed from great distance, no direct connection needed
  • Balanced threat of WMD results in peace
  • Countries have duty to protect selves and citizens
  • Impossible to ‘uninvent’ WMD, better to attempt to keep peace through limited possession & control
26
Q

Arguments against WMD

A
  • Cannot lead to true peace
  • Aggravate causes of war & make war more likely
  • Reason for is fear & threat, morally unacceptable
  • Risk of accidental fire
  • Long term effects are devastating
  • Are against ‘ethics’ and rules of war (proportionality)
  • Impossible to pick definitive targets (will wipe out countless civilians)
  • Other ways of forcing countries into submission
27
Q

Strategies of War

A
  • Modern Warfare

- ‘Classic’ Warfare

28
Q

Modern Warfare

A
  • Combines old WW1 style tactics with new advanced tactics

- From foot soldiers to WMDs/Cyber Warfare

29
Q

Moral Issues with Modern Warfare

A
  • Precision warfare vs. Indiscriminate destruction
  • Detachment vs. Engagement
  • Proportionality (Special case of nuclear weapons)
  • Cyber warfare
30
Q

Precision vs. indiscriminate destruction

A
  • Precision can deliver precise attacks and avoid civilians
  • Cluster bombs cover wide indiscriminate target, harder to avoid civilian targets
  • Precisely guided missiles seem to be more acceptable than cluster bombs
31
Q

Detachment vs. engagement

A
  • Drone operators far removed from combat, lack of human connection with enemy, harder to assign responsibility
  • If drone destroyed, no pilot dies, minimising casualties makes ‘easier sell,’ public support can hide intentions
32
Q

Proportionality

A
  • Not blowing things out of proportion (if someone snaps your pencil don’t snap their neck)
  • “Don’t take a sledgehammer to crack a nut”
33
Q

Nuclear Weapons (Proportionality)

A
  • Do not discriminate between innocent and combatant
  • No direct involvement required with enemy
  • Illegal under international treaties
  • Disproportionately destructive
  • Can never be part of a just war
34
Q

Cyberwarfare

A
  • Can disable weapons-control, communication systems, electricity grid
  • Enemy can no longer pursue/counter in normal way
  • Enemy becomes more vulnerable
  • Enemy may be forced into cease fire
  • Careful use has ability to avoid casualties
35
Q

Morality of War

A
  • Realism (war is natural state, when war starts morality does not apply, “History is written by the winners”)
  • Pacifism (nothing can justify war, avoid wars to limit damage caused)
36
Q

Realism

A
  • War is inevitable
  • Once war begins strong dominate
  • No limits to weapons or tactics used
  • Justice & morality not limiting factors
37
Q

Pacifism

A
  • We should deal with the root causes of conflict
  • “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind” - JFK
  • Conditional pacifism (Bertrand Russel against WW1)
  • Absolute pacifism
  • Selective/nuclear pacifism
  • Active pacifism
38
Q

Religious View on Pacifism

A
  • Faith in better future
  • Faith in God’s plan/power
  • ‘I Have Been to the Mountain Top’ MLK (Moses 10 Com)
  • Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us”
39
Q

Root Causes of Conflict

A
  • Inequality (poverty, resources)
  • Prejudice & Racism (political, beliefs)
  • Power (disagreement, pride)
  • Ignorance
40
Q

Terrorism

A
  • Pursuit of political/ideological goal through violence
  • Not war in traditional sense (violence often one-sided)
  • Can lead to a war, escaping dictator (Syria), clear leader agenda (Bin Laden leading Al Qaeda)
  • Little discrimination civilian or no, don’t minimise
41
Q

Moral Decision Making

A
  • Culture?
  • Experiences?
  • Own intuition?
  • God?
42
Q

Moral Philosophy

A
  • Is morality personal taste?
  • Is morality matter of cultural conditioning?
  • Is it objective or subjective?
43
Q

Utilitarianism

A
  • Utility>working
  • Imagine life has no meaning or purpose, imagine there is no God and no heaven, what then becomes important
  • Jeremy Bentham “whatever brings most pleasure to most people is good”
44
Q

Three Key Elements of Utilitarianism

A
  • Equality; everyone’s happiness is equally important
  • Hedonism; happiness or pleasure is universal
  • Consequences are more important than intentions (consequentialism, can’t measure intentions but can measure consequences)

Higher RMPS (2 decks)

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