Killing in war / Jefferson McMahan.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [236]-245) and index.

The morality of participation in an unjust war -- The doctrine of the moral equality of combatants -- The traditional criterion of liability to attack in war -- Can unjust combatants satisfy the principles of Jus in Bello? -- The basis of moral liability to attack in war -- Arguments for the moral equality of combatants -- Justification and liability -- Consent -- The boxing match model of war -- The gladiatorial combat model of war -- Hypothetical consent -- The epistemic argument -- Institutions as sources of justification -- The duty to defer to the epistemic authority of the government -- The duty to sustain the efficient functioning of just institutions -- Fairness to fellow participants -- The collectivist approach to the morality of war -- Transferred responsibility -- Symmetrical disobedience -- Conscientious refusal -- Excuses -- Sources of allegiance to the moral equality of combatants -- The conflation of morality and law -- The conflation of permission and excuse -- Excusing conditions for unjust combatants -- Duress -- Epistemic limitation -- Diminished responsibility -- Skepticism about excusing unjust combatants -- Consistency -- Are unjust combatants excused by epistemic limitations? -- Liability and the limits of self-defense -- Different types of threat -- The relevance of excuses to killing in self-defense -- Culpable threats -- Partially excused threats -- Excused threats and innocent threats -- Nonresponsible threats -- Justified threats and just threats -- Liability to defensive attack -- The moral status of unjust combatants -- Liability and punishment -- The relevance of excuses to the distribution of risk -- Child soldiers -- Civilian immunity and civilian liability -- The moral and legal foundations of civilian immunity -- The possible bases of civilian liability -- Civilian liability to lesser and collateral harms -- Can civilians be liable to intentional military attack? -- Civilian liability and terrorism.

Contents; 1. The Morality of Participation in an Unjust War; 2. Arguments for the Moral Equality of Combatants; 3. Excuses; 4. Liability and the Limits of Self-Defense; 5. Civilian Immunity and Civilian Liability; Notes; Index;

Jeff McMahan urges us to reject the view, dominant throughout history, that mere participation in an unjust war is not wrong. He argues powerfully that combatants who fight for an unjust cause are acting wrongly and are themselves morally responsible for their actions. We must rethink our attitudes to the moral role of the individual in war. - ;Killing a person is in general among the most seriously wrongful forms of action, yet most of us accept that it can be permissible to kill people on a large scale in war. Does morality become more permissive in a state of war? Jeff McMahan argues that c