Justice as a Flaw in War-like Situations

 Justice as a Flaw in War-like Situations

In Book II of Plato’s The Republic, the question at hand is, “what is justice?”.  Socrates comes across a man by the name of Thrasymachus, who finds justice to be the advantage of the stronger.  In defining justice this way, Thrasymachus has declared that justice is a burden rather than something that is useful; a person who is just will be taken advantage of by someone who does not care for justice.

            I find this notion of justice to be very interesting, especially when talking about the justification of and within international wars.  Take, for example, the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnamese War. Not to say that I agree with the actions taken by the United States soldier’s, however, if American soldiers are known to only follow just laws in war, then it would be advantageous of the Viet Kong to place themselves in a position where the only way for them to be found is if American soldiers committed unjust acts of war.  Knowing that American soldiers would not do such a thing, gives them an advantage to survival. The same thing can be said in many scenarios regarding warfare or acts of mass violence.  Defecting in situations can often bring about a better payoff for one’s self, especially in matters of life and death. 

            A thought that crossed my mind while reading Coady’s comments on Hobbes’ idea that there is a “need for limiting the damage by placing violence under the control of agreement, convention, and law-in short, at least common reason, and preferably common morality”, is why the same reason for us exiting the state of nature is not sufficient for us to do so at an international level.  The reason we enter into civil society is to protect ourselves from the violence of other individuals who attempt to take away our property or life.  Nation states are nothing but individuals in the international community, whose only threats are other individuals who may attempt to take their property or life.  If it is found beneficial for individual people to join a society so that there is “common reason, and preferably common morality”, why is it not beneficial for individual states to do the same?