A few minutes of key ideas!
The research & wisdom reminders.
These are the six key ideas that guided the high-level topics of this week’s column.
This week:
Just War Theory.
Just war theories use situational ethics to place moral limits on war, avoid its worst horrors, and establish when war is justified.
1.
Augustine of Hippo
born 354
Lived from 354 to 430 CE, aged about 76.
Life is full of hard choices. In situational ethics, clear-cut right and wrong tend to give way to reducing harm or choosing the lesser of two evils.
2.
“In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary.”
- Thomas Aquinas
- circa 1265
Situational ethics, like Just War Theory, can be brought down to your life. When you cannot turn the other cheek, strive for a response that is proportionate and never exceeds the harm done.
3.
Why do we overreact and escalate?
Fight or flight is ancient, and fast reaction can feel natural. But living well means adding one more step: breathe, think, and choose with proportion. Not every wrong deserves maximum force. Not every irritation deserves a battle. Fairness asks whether your response is balanced within reality, and whether it reduces harm instead of multiplying it.
4.
How does TST Ethics handle the trolley problem?
When an ethical problem feels impossible, slow down, weigh options intent and use the good intent-good result formula to choose the option that causes less harm to you first, and then to others.
5.
How do you prevent yourself from overreacting?
During conflict, shift from justifying your intent to asking what result you actually want.
6.
What is the history of ethical war?
The history of war ethics shows that across time and cultures, people have tried to define when war is justified and how it should be restrained.
That’s it. The end.