Ethics of War and Peace

[iago]

hmm, over the next 1.5 weeks I have to write a paper on Ethics of War and Peace.  It can basically be on anything involving war, from religion, language (ie, translations), terrorism, etc.

I'm just looking for ideas.  Let's throw some stuff out!

It has to be ~15 pages, so I need something that I could discuss at length

Open discussion!

Thanks!
-iago

[iago]

I was just thinking, War as a means of control, like in Orwell's 1984.

War as a natural instinct, like in Lord of the Flies.

Thoughts?

[Denial]

why do people act as if war and murder were un-natural? What's unnatural is to go your whole life without ever raisting your hand in violence - Children of the mind - by orson scott card

Right about why people go to war and how we tried to avoid war at all cost but sometimes there is no other way. You could also right about some stupid reasons to go to war that some countries have done

the religous war it's been going on for like 300 years a good topic

[Soul Taker]

Come on, he even used 'write' in his post.

[Crypticflare]

I had to do something similar last year in my english courses, 10 page writing of the ethics of child soldiers.  They included a background history,  reasons of the use of them, and of course testimonies from children themselves. I dunno if this helps at all but hopefully it gives you an idea.

[Kp]

I think it's unethical to require anyone to read a book as big as War and Peace.

[Mitosis]

Why not something on Hitler? WWII?

[ObsidianWolf]

Perhaps something mentioning that war bring Revolutionary thoughts and new ideas to the surface of humanity that may have taken a bit longer to come to realize through the peace that is favored.  Most unfortuante that such is the way of life and most cannot push themselves to realize such concepts unless motivated but an extreme circumstance.

A topic on Hitler is over used, yet we can all learn much from the Holocaust.  A brief page discussing his thoughts ideas and reasons for scapegoats could bring across many ideas.  But all in all its a small topic as to how broad you could go.

Edit: Added Hitler comment.

[Hazard]

Hitler as a topic of discussion about the ethics of war is not overused, the subject is just misconstrued. The fact of the matter is Hitler was, in fact, a successful leader. Also, what he did he did for the glory of Germany. He really did have a good intention for the outcome of his actions. Obviously at times his own agenda got ahead of him as seen in the invasion of Russia, but he was still motiviated by a will to further Germany.

[iago]

Ok, I've decided that I'm going to write about, "War as a natural progression of society"

Here are the points I intend to discuss, open to debate, of course:
-----
War as a Natural Progression of Society

1.Introduction
2.Give a brief overview of war, and the fact that it is often a natural progression of society
3.Link it into ethics
4.War will eventually happen, how can it be unethical?

5.Refer to Lord of the Flies
6.Discuss children, in small groups
7.Discuss teenagers
8.Discuss adults, in small groups

9.Discuss government
10.Discuss the problems associated with governments
[more goes here]

11.Animals naturally fight
12.They lack the intelligence
13.With more intelligence, they might end up the same as us

14.Historical examples (Ask Will)
15.Previous civilizations always ended with war, either internal or external fighting
16.(Find some examples)

17.Terrorism
18.Using war to control people
19.Refer to 1984

20.Modern warfare
21.The nuclear deterrent
22.Cyberwar

23.Conclusion
24.Wrap it up
25.Link back to ethics
-----

Thoughts?  I figure I can get 2000 words/15 pages out of that, but I'm happy to make changes if you can convince me that it's not a good idea to do some topic, or something

[Crypticflare]

Make sure you talk about the bomb-sniffing-pigs used in Iraq right now.

[iago]

I guess I should add:
22.1. Objections

[Crypticflare]

Also, though I bet you know this already, read and interpret possible points of debate. Our english teachers here love playing devils advocate. Which is probably the only good thing I did have on the report since the topic was a big controversity.

[iago]

Yeah, I do that all the time.

I don't even agree with what I'm writing, but I think it'll be fun.

[Crypticflare]

True knowlege is power

Though you may disagree with it, someday while standing at the water cooler, someone may ask, "War isn't really that needed is it?", Then you can step in, and voice your  ~.02 CND