Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

JUST WAR THEORY

130

account of human nature, both con-
sciousness and the collective uncon-
scious. In the latter, Jung posited
archetypal patterns that he thought were
shared by all humans. Jung’s work was
more amenable to a positive religious
interpretation than Freud’s, and his work
has some influence in religious treat-
ments of God’s relationship to the human
conscious and unconscious. Near the end
of his life, Jung became deeply concerned
with the apparent emptiness of modern
materialism and he counseled a recovery
of spirituality. His works include Psychol-
ogy of the Unconscious (1912), and Psy-
chological Types (1921), Man and His
Symbols (published posthumously in
1964), and an autobiography, Memories,
Dreams, Reflections (1961).

JUST WAR THEORY. The topic con-
cerning moral restrictions on warfare that
go back to some of the earliest recorded
works on war. Just war theory posits the
question: is anything and thus everything
permissible in war? Great empires have
carried out savage massacres with no
regard to noncombatants or prisoners, or
whether or not warfare is justified on the
grounds of self-defense or divine sanction.
Just War Theory has emerged slowly
in the history of ideas and culture and
addresses the following conditions: Is
nation (or empire or community) A justi-
fied in waging war on nation B if (1) there
is no other, peaceful alternative, i.e., a last

resort, (2) Nation B has without proper

provocation attacked A or attacked

another nation C to which A has alle-

giance, (3) Nation A’s intention or goal is

restricted to repelling B’s illicit, unpro-

voked attack and securing a stable peace;

hence, the ultimate intention or goal of A

must be peace, and (4) Nation A does not

intend or foresee using illicit means in

executing the war (directly killing or tor-

turing noncombatants)? Other condi-

tions have been taken into account such

as the likelihood of A defeating B and a

calculation of the costs involved.

JUSTICE. Justice is a surprisingly com-

plex and diverse term in the history of

philosophy of religion. The ancients saw

justice as a virtue; see, for example, Plato’s

Republic and Aristotle’s lengthy investiga-

tion in the Nichomachean Ethics. In the

sense of virtue, justice tends to focus on

the correct alignment of character in both

the person and the state. Socrates’ thesis

in Plato’s Republic is that the best way to

understand the virtue of justice for an

individual is to look at justice in the ideal

state. His conclusion is that justice is the

right placement of the rational, passion-

ate, and appetitive characteristics of the

body in question. Aristotle sees justice as

the mean between the extremes of per-

forming injustices upon others as an act

of overreaching one’s proper place and

accepting too many injustices and not

receiving one’s due.