Critically Discuss Augustine's Distinction Between Just and Unjust Wars
Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and their subsequent fall from grace, for eaten the forbidden fruit has had grave consequences on humanity, according to Augustine. Their have affected every human being and there is no escape from it. From that moment, the human soul lost the capacity to have pure goodness and, as such, men became doomed to sin. They nature will always be motivated by self love and greed rather than selflessness, wars are therefore unfortunately inevitable. Susan Atwood asserts that Augustine believed that war was the result of sin as well as a remedy for sin' .
Augustine forbid citizens or soldiers, whether just or unjust beings, to challenge unjust rulers unless under the command of another ruler. He thus wished to create a society with no freedom to introduce change unless allowed by the ruler. Augustine's demand of obedience to unjust regimes would be rejected as unacceptable in the contemporary modern society. He puts total faith in the reliability of just rulers to declare war on those rulers who are unjust. He suggests that unjust rulers can only be challenged by other rulers, thus...
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