The Goals of War

About the lecture

In this module, we examine the goals of war, focusing in particular on (i) the pacifist position that nothing can justify going to war (ii) the central case for a justified war: to prevent more killing from happening overall (iii) the responsibility of a state in protecting its own state and other states in order to achieve this central goal (iv) secondary goals of war like developing just institutions and economic considerations.

About the lecturer

Professor Victor Tadros is a lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Warwick. His research interests are in the philosophy of criminal law, terrorism law, the criminal trials and punishment. He is currently researching just war theory, and issues in moral and political philosophy. His books include Criminal Responsibility (2005), The Trial on Trial (with Antony Duff, Lindsay Farmer and Sandra Marshall) (2007) The Ends of Harm: The Moral Foundations of Criminal Law (2011), Wrongs and Crimes (2016) and To Do, To Die, To Reason Why (2020).