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Existential Threat as a Casus Belli

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Existential Threat as a Casus Belli (EN)
Kucherenko, Sergey
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
2023-12-31
Existential threat is often mentioned in political rhetoric. While it is mostly used to denote threats to humanity as a whole, like climate change or AI, it is also used on a smaller scale. Existential threat to a state or a similar entity is often evoked too. Such a threat is considered grave enough to justify war and – possibly – the use of nuclear weapons. In the present article, the author aims to deconstruct the notion of “existential threat” in relation to the state and show that it should not be used as a reason to go to war. The main argument is that the state has a specific mode of existence which makes it impossible to speak of state death unambiguously. Therefore, there can be no apparent threats to its existence. The author proposes a normative interpretation of the state. The state is understood as a project of a certain group, or even an individual, therefore the discussion of “existential threat” to a state should be dropped in favor of a more grounded evaluation of potential gains and losses by different social groups and political parties. (EN)
just cause (EN)
just war (EN)
existential threat (EN)
state (EN)
ontology (EN)
Conatus-Περιοδικό Φιλοσοφίας
English
The NKUA Applied Philosophy Research Laboratory (EN)
2459-3842
2653-9373
Conatus - Περιοδικό Φιλοσοφίας; Τόμ. 8 Αρ. 2 (2023): Conatus - Journal of Philosophy SI: War Ethics; 299-312 (EL)
Conatus - Journal of Philosophy; Vol. 8 No. 2 (2023): Conatus - Journal of Philosophy SI: War Ethics; 299-312 (EN)
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2023 Sergey Kucherenko (EN)
Applied Philosophy Research Laboratory
Conatus
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