Just war in the classical world: Grece and Rome

Manuel Bermúdez Vázquez

doi:10.21697/2017.53.3.02

Published: 2019-03-28

Vol. 53 No. 3 (2017)

Just war in the classical world: Grece and Rome

Manuel Bermúdez Vázquez

Studia Philosophiae Christianae

Section: Papers

https://doi.org/10.21697/2017.53.3.02

Abstract

'War is hell’ is one of the mantras used to offer an explanation for the lack of ethical guidance in the radical antagonism involved in that human conflict known as war. Throughout the history of mankind, there has been an effort to introduce ethical considerations in war-waging. However, humanity has assisted, defenseless, to the greatest injustices and disasters once and again. This situation highlights the problematic issues and paradoxes of the concept of “just war”. Our purpose here is to analyze the origins of this concept in the Greek ethical reflection during the Peloponnesian War and in the justification of the Roman expansion during the founding of the Roman Empire.

Keywords:

just war, Peloponnesian war, Roman imperialism, Cicero, Thucydides

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Bermúdez Vázquez, M. (2019). Just war in the classical world: Grece and Rome. Studia Philosophiae Christianae, 53(3), 41–54. https://doi.org/10.21697/2017.53.3.02

Cited by / Share

References

Bouthoul G., Tratado de Polemología, Ediciones del Ejército, Madrid 1984.
Google Scholar

Cicero, On obligations, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge (MA) 2008.
Google Scholar

Cicero, The Republic, Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford 2009.
Google Scholar

Cruz Prados, A., La razón de la fuerza, Pearson, Madrid 2003.
Google Scholar

Hacquard G., Guía de la Roma Antigua, Palas Atenea, Madrid 1995.
Google Scholar

Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin, London 2003.
Google Scholar

Sánchez Ferlosio R., Sobre la guerra, Destino, Madrid 2007.
Google Scholar

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009.
Google Scholar

Walzer M., Just and Unjust Wars, Basic Books, New York 2006.
Google Scholar