Just suffering theory?

Institutional Blackmail -- No Jab, No Job, No Livelihood (Part #4)

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The just war theory... is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. The criteria are split into two groups: "right to go to war" (jus ad bellum) and "right conduct in war" (jus in bello). The first group of criteria concerns the morality of going to war, and the second group of criteria concerns the moral conduct within war. There have been calls for the inclusion of a third category of just war theory (jus post bellum) dealing with the morality of post-war settlement and reconstruction. The just war theory postulates the belief that war, while it is terrible but less so with the right conduct, is not always the worst option. Important responsibilities, undesirable outcomes, or preventable atrocities may justify war.

Given the comparison by authorities of pandemic response with war, and the necessity for emergency response measures, it might be asked to what degree this evokes the ethical framing offered by just war theory -- most obviously with respect to collateral damage and the necessity for some to be effectively sacrificed for a greater cause.

The use of "just" in framing that theory unfortunately offers the additional connotation of being "merely" war -- a dynamic in which many engage with enthusiasm, and from which some derive considerable advantage.

Just torture theory? In the conduct of war and the necessity for interrogation of potential terrorists -- especially given the ticking time bomb scenario -- a controversial case has been effectively made for enhanced interrogation, and challenged (Bob Brecher, Torture and the Ticking Bomb, 2007).

The parallel with just war theory suggests the need for recognition of "just torture theory" (Shunzo Majima, Just Torture?, Journal of Military Ethics, 11, 2012, 210; Ross W. Bellaby, The Ethics of Torture-Lite: a justifiable middle-ground? International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 29, 2015, 2; Simcha Walfish, "Pain and Suffering of the Requisite Intensity": the legal definition of torture, Law and the Senses, 15 September 2019).

Enforced vaccination can be seen as a curious surrogate for religious and ideological commitment to the indoctrination of the world with regard to a more enlightened perspective -- especially in the light of the relative failure of such initiatives. Rather than such indoctrination being perceived and experienced as a form of psychological torture, the case made euphemistically for enhanced interrogation could be seen  as a well-crafted substitute. Enforced vaccination as a substitute for enhanced indoctrination -- and a prelude to the future challenge of climate change?

Again the use of "just" can be understood as undermining the human values of which torture is the antithesis.

"Just sacrifice"? Of greater relevance is the manner in which Abrahamic religions are complicit in enabling the human sacrifice associated with conventional warfare. This could be understood as a consequence of their involvement in the skillful crafting of  just war theory. This can be readily recognized as the ill-considered "sacrifice of humans" in pursuit of national and other agendas with which any of those religions may be complicit -- whether sacrificing the enemy or the military forces deployed against them (Stanley Hauerwas, Telling the truth about the sacrifices of war, ABC Religion and Ethics, 24 Apr 2013).

This framework may be extended to include genocidal massacre and forms of ethnic cleansing. Any distinction between "human sacrifice" (as narrowly defined) and "sacrifice of humans" (more generally defined) merits careful consideration to avoid any tendency to condemn the first whilst denying complicity in the fatalities associated with the second. As argued separately, seemingly "just sacrifice" has yet to be framed in those terms (Fundamental Need for Human Sacrifice by Abrahamic Religions: vital prerequisite for sustainable global civilization? 2018).

The concept is however only too evident in the following:

• the massive deployment of foot soldiers during the trench warfare of recent world wars, knowing that the slaughter to which many would be exposed could be framed with little challenge as a "just sacrifice", namely their sacrifice in a "just cause"
• the firebombing of German cities and their civilian populations as being as "just sacrifice" of their lives, however regrettable
• the articulation of collateral damage (with its many civilian deaths) during conflict in the Middle East and Vietnam as being a ""