What is it good for? Emily Salamanca

Assignment 9: What is it good for?

Because I am a Catholic, my views are often very influenced by my religion, which has come up with a theory known as the 'Just War Doctrine'. This doctrine discusses why war, in rare cases, is just. These cases include, as quoted from Catechism and the Catholic Church:

• the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
• all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
• there must be serious prospects of success;
• the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated (the power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition).

I particularly like the condition that there must be serious prospects of success. Many wars rage around the world with no clear winner or loser. Fights break out and people are dying for little cause. If there need be a war it must be incremental and must further our race, not destroy it.

As an American who is not immediately affected by the wars in the world, I think it is important to realize that there could be other conditions that promote or should prevent war and I certainly cannot think of all of them. For many, my list may be incredibly short, for others, incredibly long.