Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Applying the rules of just war theory to engineers in the arms industry

  • Published:
Science and Engineering Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Given the close relationship between the modern arms industry and the military, engineers and other professionals who work in the arms industry should be held accountable to the principles of just war theory. While they do not deploy weapons on the battlefield and are not in the military chain of command, technical professionals nonetheless have a moral duty to abide by principles of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. They are morally responsible both for choosing the companies that employ them (and to whom these companies sell arms) and a well as what types of arms they develop.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Fotion, N., Elfstrom, G. (1986), Military Ethics. Routledge & K. Paul, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  2. US Department of Defense National Defense Budgets Estimate for 2003. Available at: http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2003/fy2003_greenbook.pdf.

  3. Defense News Top 100 available at: http://www.defensenews.com/content/features/2005chart1.html.

  4. Lockheed Martin. Setting the Standard. available at: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/7856.pdf.

  5. SAIC, “Our Mission, Values, and Credo,” available at: http://www.saic.com/about/mission.html

  6. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, “IEEE Code of Ethics,” available at: http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/whatis/code.html.

  7. The American Society for Engineering Education, “ASEE Statement on Engineering Ethics Education,” available at http://www.asee.org/about/statementEngEthicsEdu.cfm.

  8. National Society of Professional Engineers, “NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers,” http://www.nspe.org/ethics/eh1-code.asp.

  9. Ramsey, P. (1992) The Just War Theory According to St. Augustine, in Elshtain, J. ed. (1992) Just War Theory. New York University Press, New York: 8–22.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Regan, R. (1996) Just War Theory: Principles and Cases. CUA Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sterba, J. (2004) War and Terrorism: Introduction, in Sterba, J. ed. Morality in Practice. Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont: 587–593.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kant, I. (1795 reprinted 1983) Perpetual Peace, in Humphrey, T. ed. Perpetual Peace and Other Essays. Hackett Publishers, Indianapolis: 107–144.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Aristotle Politics 1333A cited in Lackey, D. (1989) The Ethics of War and Peace. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs: 33.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Westhusing, T. (2003) The Competitive and Cooperative Aretai Within the American Warfighting Ethos. unpublished dissertation.

  15. Bok, S. (1982), Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation. Vintage Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Smart, T. (1999) U.S. Arms Makers Rely On Exports for Survival: Developing Countries Turn Into Major Market. International Herald Tribune February 18, 1999.

  17. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2002/t05162002_t0515npc.html.

  18. Singer, P. (2002), One World, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Rousseau, J.J. Cole, G.D.H. trans. (1973), The Social Contract. Everyman’s Library, New York: 187.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Reprinted in Purseel, C. (1972) The Military-Industrial Complex. Harper & Row, New York: 204–208.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Taylor, T. (1992) The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials. Little Brown and Company, New York: 78–115.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Richardson J.G. (2004) The bane of “inhumane” weapons and overkill: An overview on increasingly lethal arms and the inadequacy of regulatory controls. Science and Engineering Ethics 10: pp 667–692.

    Google Scholar 

  23. (1925) League of Nations Treaty Series. Vol. 94: 65–74.

  24. Advisory Opinion of 8 July, 1996, on The Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, the International Court of Justice.

  25. International Campaign to Ban Landmines, “The Landmines Problem,” available at: http://www.icbl.org/resources/problem.html.

  26. Hart, H.L.A., Honore, T. (1985), Causation in Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron Fichtelberg.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fichtelberg, A. Applying the rules of just war theory to engineers in the arms industry. SCI ENG ETHICS 12, 685–700 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-006-0064-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-006-0064-1

Key Words

Navigation