The Morality of the Laws of War

Combatants are equal under the laws of armed conflict, regardless of whether the wars they fight are just or unjust, legal or illegal. They are permissible targets and can kill each other in battle. This basic feature of international law has been recently put into question by a group of moral philosophers known as revisionists, who argue that just combatants in an unjust war should be considered innocents, and their deaths considered murder.

Dr. Prieto Rudolphy explains and assesses the conflict between the revisionist argument and the existing legal norms in The Morality of the Laws of War: War, Law, and Murder. The book provides an in-depth assessment of modern ethical thought on killing in wartime, deconstructing the revisionist view of war and offering a new perspective on the legal equality of combatants.

Prieto Rudolphy not only examines the tension between the revisionist morality and the traditional thesis of symmetry between combatants but proposes a contingent justification of the latter and an alternative morality of war. Underlying both is the inescapable fact that regulating war is always a moral compromise. At the same time, she argues that there is urgent moral pressure to improve our laws - to bring them closer to an ideal whereby war does not exist. The Morality of the Laws of War is a must-read for scholars of moral philosophy and international law, from students to experts, providing a thorough account of contemporary debates on the ethics of warfare and using nuanced arguments to illuminate a fresh perspective.