Michael Walzer and the problem of just war

Abstract

The problem of the war seems to have given place, in the recent times, to some of the most crucial debates in the field of the normative theory. The present paper undertakes the question just as it appears in the work of Michael Walzer, since its first writings. Denouncing the limits of the positivist philosophy, Walzer, enrolled among the communitarianist authors, claims the possibility of a rational speech in the valorative sphere, on the base of analyzing our shared traditions. Opposing to realism, he rescues from the classical philosophy the notions of ius ad bellum and ius in bello, that will be utilized to carry out concrete judgments, questioning the Vietnam War, in the seventies, and in our days the invasion to Iraq. Its work is not found, with all, exempt of contradictions. The analysis of what calls the “supreme emergency” leads us to the question on the possible autonomy of the political order regarding the morals.