War Crimes and Just War

Larry May is Professor of Philosophy at Washington University in St Louis. He is the author of several books, including The Socially Responsive Self, Masculinity and Morality, and Crimes against Humanity, the first book in a trilogy of volumes on the normative foundations of international criminal law. War Crimes and Just War, the second volume in the trilogy, received the Frank Chapman Sharp Prize from the American Philosophical Association.

• Introduction: 1. Justifying war but restricting tactics; Part A. Philosophical Groundings: 2. Collective responsibility and honor during war; 3. Jus gentium and minimal natural law; 4. Humane treatment as the cornerstone of the rules of war; Part B. Problems in Identifying War Crimes: 5. Killing naked soldiers: combatants and noncombatants; 6. Shooting poisoned arrows: banned and accepted weapons; 7. Torturing prisoners of war: protected and normal soldiers; Part C. Normative Principles: 8. The principle of discrimination or distinction; 9. The principle of necessity; 10. The principle of proportionality; Part D. Prosecuting War Crimes: 11. Prosecuting soldiers for war crimes; 12. Prosecuting military leaders for war crimes; 13. Commanded and commanding defenses; Epilogue and Conclusions: 14. Should terrorists be treated humanely?

"...An excellent book—a pleasure to read, and one of the very few to consider searchingly the deepest moral and political roots of just war theory and the international laws of armed conflict. It offers a unique, refreshing, and important contribution to just war theory in its attempt to blend law with morality, and to revive a virtue ethics reading of the relevant principles. Whether one agrees with May’s approach or not, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the concepts of just war." -Brian Orend, Ethics and International Affairs