‘Philosophy Today’ Series Opens with Discussion of Justification of War

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — The University of Alabama will host Dr. Jeff McMahan, professor of philosophy at Rutgers University, for a lecture, “What Rights May We Defend by Means of War?,” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 in 205 Smith Hall on the UA campus.

The talk opens the fifth annual Philosophy Today Lecture Series, which brings well-known philosophers to campus each academic year.

McMahan is the author of “The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life and Killing in War.” His work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim Foundation.

He has published papers on abortion and prenatal injury, infanticide, the ethics of cloning, the ethics of prenatal screening for disability, stem cell research, genetic enhancement, the distinction between killing and letting die and brain death.

According to recently published interviews with McMahan, he says the laws of war need to be amended. He explained that murder is often justified in war because there is an understanding between the two opposing sides about their intentions on the battlefield.

“The traditional view is that soldiers on both sides in a war are permitted to fight against one another,” he said. “The traditional justification for that appeals to a conception of self-defense that I think is restricted in its scope just to the domain of war.”

McMahan will discuss this topic at length during this visit to the Capstone. He will also teach an advanced philosophy seminar and conduct a faculty colloquium while on campus.

The lectures are geared toward a general audience and should be of interest to those in any profession or academic discipline and are sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the department of philosophy and a grant from Louis W. Perry and other alumni and friends of the department.The presentations are free and open to the public.

The second speaker in the series is Dr. Hud Hudson of Western Washington University, who will speak on “The Rabbit in the Garden – A Skeptical Theist’s Tale” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 in room 205 of Smith Hall.

UA’s department of philosophy is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.