more from Michael Walzer

Single Idea 23587

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / a. Just wars]

Full Idea

Nuclear weapons are not designed for war at all. …They explode the idea of a just war. They are the first technological innovations that are simply not encompassable within the familiar moral world.

Gist of Idea

Nuclear bombs are not for normal war; they undermine the 'just war', with a new morality

Source

Michael Walzer (Just and Unjust Wars [1977], 17)

Book Reference

Walzer,Michael: 'Just and Unjust Wars' [Penguin 1984], p.281


A Reaction

A nuclear war can hardly lead to normal victory, if it destroys the thing you are trying to conquer. It is like bringing a machine gun to a boxing match.