Philosophy and the Future of Warfare

Can there be such a thing as a ‘moral’ war? Can it ever be right to kill innocent people, even in self-defence? Can there be such a thing as a ‘moral’ war? Can it ever be right to kill innocent people, even in self-defence? How do autonomous weapons, remote control weapons and drones change the landscape of warfare, and our thinking about it? These question ... Show More

Prof. Raymond Tallis deepens his argument against the idea that we are our brains. He believes there is a distinction in kind between humans and other animals. This he illustrates by appeal to the differences between the music of Schubert and the singing 

Prof.Iain McGilchrist illustrates his argument by appeal to a number of paintings done by psychotic patients. He points to various commonalities between these paintings and speculates on the ways in which they support claims about the two hemispheres and 

Prof. Iain McGilchrist, whilst agreeing with Tallis that we are not our brains argues that we can learn a great deal about our culture by learning more about our brain. In particular we should recognise we have two hemispheres, each with a different funct 

<p class="">On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, instantly killing up to 80,000 civilians, with another 40,000 dying soon after from burns and radiation poisoning. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the surrender of the Japanese Army, marking the ... Show More

<p class="">On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, instantly killing up to 80,000 civilians, with another 40,000 dying soon after from burns and radiation poisoning. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the surrender of the Japanese Army, marking the ... Show More

In 1956 Oxford University awarded an honorary degree to the former US president Harry S. Truman for his role in ending the Second World War. One philosopher, Elizabeth Anscombe (1919 – 2001), objected strongly. She argued that although dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Naga ... Show More

In this episode, we reflect on how Dharmic traditions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, engaged with principles of humanity in warfare long before the codification of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with the Geneva Conventions. Joined by Dr. Robert Heinsch, Dr. Raj Balkaran, a ... Show More

Professor Nehal Bhuta, University of Edinburgh and Dr Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi, University of Amsterdam, give a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. Philip Alston’s deep worries about the institutionalization of the tactic of targeting killing, the ensuing extensio ... Show More

Immanuel Kant is a profoundly influential figure in modern philosophy, and was one of the earliest proponents for universal democracy and international cooperation. He also thought that women have no place in civil society, that it was okay to kill illegitimate children, and that ... Show More

The co-hosts Paola Gaeta, Antonio Coco and Ana Srovin Coralli introduce the new podcast In and Around War(s) on contemporary issues related to war. Each episode will feature a conversation with an alumnus or alumna of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human ... Show More

In the debate on how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact military strategy and decision-making, a key question is who makes better decisions — humans or machines? Advocates for a better leveraging of artificial intelligence point to heuristics and human error, arguing that n ... Show More

Most people believe in moral facts – that is, there's something about torturing and murdering innocent people that makes it wrong, which goes beyond just a feeling. Yet it's hard to locate morality anywhere in the natural world. For this reason, many have understood God to be the ... Show More