A Critical Assessment of the Prescriptive Realism of War froma Moral Perspective

A human serious concern throughout history and especially during the presentepoch is war and its potential damages. Theorists have always attempted toexamine war in many respects and weighed up its legitimacy legally and morally.Since ancient Greece, moral philosophers have concerned themselves about themoral assessment of war. There are three known theories regarding the ethics ofwar: realism, pacifism, and just war theory. Realism as a common view is dividedinto two kinds: descriptive and prescriptive, and prescriptive realism is classifiedinto two parts: moralized and cautionary. According to cautionary prescriptiverealism, the only way for states to promote interests inexpensively is byabandoning moral principles and taking precautionary measures to protectinterests. This theory holds that accepting realism helps promote peace amongstates while accepting just war theory may lead to war expansion. In this paper,arguments for cautionary prescriptive realism will be critically explored