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............................................................................... ;-]