Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Interesting post on drone warfare

Clearly there is much that Marianne Talbot is not aware of in the drone warfare discussions. The recent conference put on by the US Naval Postgraduate seminar might be a good place to look for people who are studying this issue deeply. However, her recent post about a weekend conference she held is interesting nonetheless. 

Friday, October 2, 2015

Call for Papers

This item may interest some readers of this blog:

Theme: Just War Theory in an African Context
Type: International Workshop
Institution: University of Johannesburg
Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng (South Africa)
Date: 4.–5.4.2016
Deadline: 30.11.2015
__________________________________________________

Just War Theory originated largely in a Christian and European
context. What might it look like through the lens of
characteristically sub-Saharan African values and norms?

Answering this overarching question might involve addressing these:
Given a sub-Saharan ethical background, of, say, welfarism, vitalism
or communitarianism, would something akin to Just War Theory be
justified, or would something more pacifist (or realist) be apt? If
something akin to Just War Theory is on the cards, would the idea of
just cause be reducible to rebutting aggression? Regardless of that,
how would aggression be conceived? How might the good and bad central
to the proportionality test be plausibly understood? Might the
partiality salient in sub-Saharan ethical thought sensibly influence
what counts as proportionate? Would substantial weight be placed on
the need for a right intention? Would authorization from the United
Nations or some other collective body be considered essential in
light of, say, the emphasis African political philosophy has often
placed on democratic deliberation when it comes to conflict
resolution?

Prof Thaddeus Metz will be convening a one- or two-day workshop at
the University of Johannesburg devoted to these and related questions
(4-5 April 2016). If you are interested in participating, please send
a brief (100 – 300 word) abstract to tmetz@uj.ac.za by 30 November
2015. Workshop proceedings will aim to be published as a special
issue of a journal.

Some funding will be available to mitigate the cost of traveling to
Johannesburg, particularly for those based in developing countries.

(NB: Empirical discussion of particular wars and military conflicts
in Africa is welcome, but only so long as it is done to make a
theoretical or philosophical point.)


Contact:

Prof Thaddeus Metz
Philosophy Department
University of Johannesburg
B-Ring 6, Cnr Kingsway & University Road
Auckland Park, 2006
South Africa
Email: tmetz@uj.ac.za