A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Philosophy

  • The Golden Rule approach to proportionality

    I complained a while ago about the imprecision, if not downright impossibility, in determining “proportionality” in cases where innocents are foreseeably, but not directly, killed in warfare. The usual way of formulating the proportionality criterion is to say something like the evil of any innocent deaths must be outweighed by the good accomplished by the Read more

  • Nagel’s "War and Massacre"

    I was at our local Good Will store yesterday perusing their 79-cent paperbacks and picked up a copy of an anthology of essays on war and morality which were originally published in the journal Philosophy and Public Affairs. Last night I sat down and read Thomas Nagel’s “War and Massacre,” which is a qualified defense Read more

  • Anatomy of an Obsession: A Collection of Half-Baked Thoughts on Just War and Pacifism

    Okay, no more posting on the whole just war theory/pacifism thing for a while. But for posterity’s sake (or just for handy reference), I’ve collected what I think are all or nearly all the posts I’ve done dealing with jwt and/or pacifism. Here they are (in chronological order): “Fighting with One Hand Tied Behind Your Read more