THE <i>ART OF WAR</i> CORPUS AND CHINESE JUST WAR ETHICS PAST AND PRESENT

Lo, Ping Cheung

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9795.2012.00530.x

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Warfare was not deemed morally neutral. “They fully acknowledge the negative side of all wars and that is the starting point of their ad bellum discussion” (Lo 2015a, 51).…”

Section: Mengzi On Just Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since then, the Mengzi has mainly been read for its theory of moral self‐cultivation. For war related issues, the imperial government in subsequent dynasties relied more on treatises of the Seven Military Classics (see Lo 2015a) and the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals , which are rich in military thought and basic military ethics (see Jiang 2006a, 99–124). Confucian scholars in society, however, continued to embrace Mengzi’s ethics of just war with the presumption against war.…”

Section: Influence Of Mengzi’s Ethics Of Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gratian and Mengzi

Lo¹

2020

Journal of Religious Ethics

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In this essay, I compare two pioneer thinkers of the “just war” tradition across cultures: Gratian in the Christian tradition, and Mengzi (Mencius) in the Confucian tradition. I examine their historical‐cultural contexts and the need for both to discuss just war, introduce the nature of their treatises and the rudimentary theories of just war therein, and trace the influence both thinkers’ theories have had on subsequent just war ethics. Both deemed just cause, proper authority, and right intention to be necessary conditions for initiating a just war. However, Gratian’s theory has a presumption against injustice whereas Mengzi’s theory has a presumption against war. As a jurist of the Church, Gratian sought to discriminate just from unjust wars, while Mengzi, a moral‐political advisor to rulers, was more concerned with avoiding bloodshed and building lasting peace. In addition to examining these thinkers’ respective historical influences, I submit that Gratian’s Decretum and the Mengzi are pioneering in two more senses. First, they offer important clues to understanding how just war ideas were developed very differently in medieval Europe and in premodern China. Second, both embodied features that helped shape their subsequent intellectual tradition, which in turn molded the different legacies of these two works.

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“…Warfare was not deemed morally neutral. “They fully acknowledge the negative side of all wars and that is the starting point of their ad bellum discussion” (Lo 2015a, 51).…”

Section: Mengzi On Just Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Influence Of Mengzi’s Ethics Of Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gratian and Mengzi

Lo¹

2020

Journal of Religious Ethics

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“…The tradition's patriarch, St. , justifies armed coercion by appeal to Jesus' command that we should love our neighbors and especially our enemies. For example, he invokes this command in his letter (2001,189) to the military tribune, Boniface, before proceeding shortly afterwards to discuss the propriety of a Christian serving as a soldier (Augustine 2001, 215-16) and to prescribe peace as the proper end of a just war (2001,217), and he does it again in 1 The Christian just war tradition does have its analogues in both the Islamic and Confucian traditions: see Chapters 29 and 30 in this volume and Kelsay (2007), Lo (2012), Twiss and Chan (2012), and Zhang (2012). I regard the Christian tradition as paradigmatic because it is that which has informed international law.…”

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confidence: 99%

Fostering Reconciliation as a Goal of Military Ethics

2016

The Ashgate Research Companion to Military Ethics

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In the Christian tradition-and the secular thought it has shaped-the proper goal of just war is peace. This follows from the characteristic prominence of the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation in Christian ethics. Accordingly, to be morally justified, war must include among its aims reconciliation with the enemy, repudiating any interest in their suffering or annihilation as such. Since a just war's immediate goal is to rectify injustice, it is punitive; but since that rectification includes ultimate reconciliation, it is not vindictive. Insofar as it intends reconciliation with the enemy and regards them with compassion, just war is forgiving and so qualified by love. Nevertheless, the interpersonal paradigms of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation should be distinguished from their weaker political or inter-state analogues. The peace intended by just war is better specified as political "accommodation" or "co-existence" than "reconciliation." The intention of political co-existence usually shapes military action indirectly by constraining its belligerent means. Sometimes, however, armed forces can be directly engaged in diplomatic efforts to persuade a hostile enemy into peaceful politics. The Christian Just War Tradition and the Goal of PeaceThe notion that peace is the ultimate goal of war is common sense. There are, however, significantly different kinds of peace. One is the peace that reigns when the enemy people have been annihilated: this is typically the goal of wars motivated by racial hatred. Another is the peace that reigns when the enemy people have been ruthlessly suppressed: this is the goal of wars of political domination. A different kind of peace is that which reigns when a grave wrong has been righted by the military disabling of those fighting in support of it: this is the goal of a war fought according to the canons of the just war tradition. In the West, the notion that war should be engaged upon only reluctantly and only

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“…16 16 The idea of “just war” in terms of “attacking tyranny and preventing disorder” has been repeatedly mentioned in the ancient texts including the “Art of War corpus” where one can find such sayings like “to prevent tyranny and save the state from disorder” ( Wuzi ), “to punish tyranny and disorder in order to prevent injustice” ( Weiliaozi ), “to attack tyranny and disorder” ( Weiliaozi ), and “to attack disorder and prevent tyranny ( Sijing ). Apart from the idea of “righteous war”, there is also a concept of “righteous armies” ( yibing ) in the early Chinese tradition that goes with “righteous war.” For more information on this topic, please see Lo 2012 in this focus issue. …”

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confidence: 99%

WEAPONS ARE NOTHING BUT OMINOUS INSTRUMENTS: The Daodejing's View on War and Peace

Zhang¹

2012

Journal of Religious Ethics

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The Daodejing (DDJ) is an ancient Chinese text traditionally taken as a representative Daoist classic expressing a distinctive philosophy from the Warring States Period . This essay explicates the ethical dimensions of the DDJ paying attention to issues related to war and peace. The discussion consists of four parts: (1) "naturalness" as an ontocosmological argument for a philosophy of harmony, balance, and peace; (2) war as a sign of the disruption of the natural pattern of things initiated by the proliferation of desire; (3) defensive war and appropriate war conduct required when one has to be involved in warfare; and (4) the natural and spontaneous way of living that would prevent war from happening in the first place. This essay attempts to show that what makes the DDJ different from other military texts, or what is called the "art of war corpus" in China is that the discourse of war and warfare in the DDJ is presented via its unique understanding of peace at the personal and social levels. The DDJ is meant to be an inquiry into an effective method to prevent war from happening amid a world full of selfish interests and excessive desires. It proposes that peace is not only a condition in which there is freedom from war and overt violence, but a state of harmony that marks human life and its betterment.

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THE ART OF WAR CORPUS AND CHINESE JUST WAR ETHICS PAST AND PRESENT

Cited by 6 publications

References 22 publications

Gratian and Mengzi

Gratian and Mengzi

Fostering Reconciliation as a Goal of Military Ethics

WEAPONS ARE NOTHING BUT OMINOUS INSTRUMENTS: The Daodejing's View on War and Peace

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