The Ethical Norms In International Conflict

The discussion about ethical norms in international conflict is based on theory ofnatural law.In Grotius's opinion, natural law is an eternal, fundamental and decisive lawwhich embodies justice.There is no need for natural law to acquire the confirmation ofChristian church and natural law is unchangeable even in front of God. The purpose ofnatural law is to maintain the order of society and make sure that people can live a goodorganized and peaceful life.Grotius claims natural law are some rules found out bypeople's reason and these rules are valid by itself,so it is unnecessary for God to definethese rules and make them valid. Grotius proposes human nature is the origin of naturallaw and he connect natural law with human nature.Grotius discusses natural lawcomprehensively and systematically and bases natural law on people'sreason,therefore,by means of natural law and people's reason,we can judge whether theactions of people are good or evil and just in humanity.The validity of natural lawcounts on neither authority nor coerce but reason.Human are rational animals withreason from birth and can be dominated by reason consciously.It is clear Grotiusexamines the national affairs and juridical problems from the eyesight of human andreason.It is because of the basic principles of reason of people proposed by Grotius that heconcludes the concept of a just war.Grotius claims a just war complies with the natural law and if someone is infringed so as to his life is threatened seriously,it will belegitimate for him to not only be against,but also destroy the offender.Grotius arguesany kind of violence isn't banned by reason,what banned by reason is the violenceagainst the society,that is the violence that infringe others' right.Because the purpose ofa society is to protect every member of it by the unity and help of the whole communityand make every member acquires what he deserves.Everyone's life,body,liberty andproperty belong to him and are infrangible.A just war is to protect people's life,bodiesand property and when it is necessary,military power is allowed,which absolutely has noconfliction with "nature",because "nature" endows everyone the power toself-defense.Grotius also expounds all the laws of all the states admit self-defence isinnocent when people's life is threatened seriously which obviously provides a evidencethat self-defence complies with the natural law.However,in short,a war is not a accuratemeans of revising the balance of rights.Oppositely,the value of justice is to permit astate to protect or restore its rights,not endow it a obligation.The relevant factorsthought of by a state for deciding whether to protect its rights by means of war arebeyond the category of international law.The jeopardize and that a war will lead to afather action of two states aren't a problem of the details of laws,but need to beelucidated from the perspective of ethics and politics,which will make the nature of ajust war vague and change.Grotius alerts when we are anxious for justice,it is necessaryto think about humanistic concern,that is to think of a war from the perspective ofethical love and ethical duty.In this dissertation I will discuss that the context of the anxiety is based on thehypothesis of justice according to which the entity of rights (state or individual) shouldget the respect of others.When their rights are infringed,they are permitted to excisemilitary power to others.The core of this hypothesis is to maintain an ethic betweenstates and make them control their wild ambitions.Due to the affect of Grotius,this kind of maintenance can find its meaning in contemporary international law and the Charterof Organization of United Nations.The special purpose of this dissertation is not tosimply expound the primary contribution of Grotius,that is the argument of justicehanded down from Grotius,but to lead to the consideration of pursuing for humanism bywar.In the principal work about international justice of Grotius which is On the law ofwar and peace,a problem discussed all the time is the rights occupied by means of warcan't be inherited.From the humanistic perspective,under some circumstances,we needto give up the exercise of rights to avoid to involve in the so-called just war.Just as somereaders of Grotius's work in the field of international relationship contend,Grotiusdoesn't insist the superior value of justice in international system,because the superiorvalue of justice may make the members fight back injustice simply by military sanction.Moreover,the role played by the ethical love in the justice theory of Grotius aboutconvention of just wars,international relationship and international law has gotten adominating attention.Although justice is a fundamental norm when we understandGrotius,as for both Grotius and us,it is a misunderstanding to make this norm separatefrom other morality.In fact,it is necessary to think about natural justice and theninternational law,common ethic such as love,sympathy,tolerance,fairness and somereligious forms from the respective of plural morality.The contemporary readers ofGrotius prone to contend all the norms out of justice and laws and ordinances belong toChristian doctrine while Christian readers argue they originate from all the just warsbased on theological ethic.However,to understand the concern to war in respect to ethicby Grotius by the completely dichotomous way not only misunderstanding the way tounderstand these problems by Grotius,but also weaken the comprehension of hiswork.In the later work about the theory of contemporary just war of Grotius,ethical loveplays an important role.Love and justice as a part of contemporary jurisprudence areboth humanistic concepts which root in the appeals imposed on us because of other people's integrated rights(in the area of law) or the imperfect rights(in the area oflove).Both appeals derive from a common norm,that is the demand of a society byhuman which is "commensurate with our reason" in Grotius's words.The requirement oflove as well as law will lead to a contextual obligation of a special society and theurgency of the obligation is great in the global area especially when the criterion ofjustice has difficulties in institutionalization and when the pursuit of rights of the nationleads to self control.