Just war theory

St. Augustine believed that one must remove the faulty impressions of sensory knowledge to attain divine wisdom. He believed that by looking inward and then upward, one can achieve salvation and happiness. St. Augustine also accomplished many great things. Above all, he completed the Christinization of Greek philosophy by reafirming the Platonic idea about the relationship between the body and the soul. He also established the doctrine of "Just war", which allowed righteous conflicts performed in the name of peace. He presented this idea in the middle ages. He believed that war was sin, but he also knew that auciding war was inevetable. He thought the only rationalization for war was to hope to achieve peace. Of course there were principles to the Just War theory but like any other law or rule, they were broken. Especially the one which stated that civilians should not be attacked but yet they were. Amongst this principle were also the follwing:

1.) Last Resort
- A just war can only be initiated if all non-violence options have been used.
2.) Initiated by the government or a higher power.
-A war is only just if an authorative figure approves it, then it is justified.
3.) Chance of Sucess
- A war can only be fought if there is a chance of success.
4.) "Right Intentions"
-A just war can only be fought in order to "redress a wrong sufferred."
-The only objective of a war is to solve the problem.
-Self-defense agains an armed attack is always a just case.
5.) Re-stablish Peace
-Ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace.
-War should improve te peace that existed before or would exist ifthe war had never been fought.
6.) Proportionallity
-You must use the minumum amount of force to get your objective.
-Violence used should be proportional to the injury suffered.
7.) Don't attack civilians
- Civilians are never the target of war, all measures to avoid killing them should be used.

As good as these principles might sound in reality they are not as just as they seem. Not to mention the fact that they were broken most of the time. This idea of just war theory to me dosent make it any holyer or better at the end of the day, because fighting is just the same under any circumstance or situation. Fighting cannot be seen as good because there are definetly other ways to solve problems. St. Augustine stated that this form of fighting was good because it could only be allowed if their people were being attcked, but like God previously stated "Get slapped on one cheek and turn your face to be slapped on the other". The same can be seen with the statement "Don't do unto those what you wouldn't want done unto you". Fighting is all the same whether one claims its for a good cause or a bad one, in the end your ultimate goal is revenge and if not, when fighting the emotions that run within us are those of anger and hate no matter how hard we try to block them out its a natural instinct that we as humans posess.


THE END............................................................................... ;-]

Bacon's Four Idols

Francis Bacon was against the Educational System and condemned them on two things. He argued that the church can teach you how to go to heaven but they cannot teach you how the heavens go. He focused on the idea that the church had mixed religion and natural philosophy. He wanted to make others realize that by understanding nature and how it works we could meet the daily needs of people and reduce the suffering of others which would allow us to get closer to God. Bacon had four idols that he believed beset men's mind. They are known as Idols of the tribe, Idols of the Cave, Idols of the Marketplace, and Idols of the theatre.

.....Idols of the Tribe: It is a false assertion that the sense of man is the measure of things. It is the bias of human beings to jump to conclusions based on what is new or strange rather than investing time to understand the truth. We distort the nature of things by mingling our own nature with it.

.....Idols of the Cave: Men look for the sciences in their own lesser worlds, and not in the greater or common world. They spent their time Creating individual biases through the educational system. These are the idols of the individual man. Everyman has their own perspective of nature which makes our view of nature different from the others and most times makes nature seem discolored. It can as well have to do with the daily activities we perform.

.....Idols of the Marketplace: It is by discourse that men asscociate and words are imposed with such vulgarity. Men don't even defend themselves because of some statements presented whether they be wrong or right but by the simple fact that looking bad in front of everyone else is not a top priority. It is the language created to share knowledge Revealing the truth. Philosophy is more concerned with winning arguments than looking into specific ways of knowing. Words just lead men into contraversy and confusion but the actions that take place are quite understanding, have great effect, and make sense.

.....Idols of the theatre: The Christian West has given reverence to four or five Greek scholars and has ignored any other understanding of the world. It is so wrong for such action to take place because the occurences in the world and what there is to learn cannot be based on the ideas or opinions of a small sec of people but should be based on that of information and fact. If we stick to the ideas or philosophies of a specific people then the chances of ever really discovering something are very vague......progression is led by achievment and the process of learning new things, not by sticking to what others say is the final word or what is right.



THE END...................... ;-]