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Medieval Philosophy

The Aquinas Inquiry

What would the medieval philosophers who developed the theory of a Just War have thought about the invasion of Iraq? Ian Dungate imagines their response.

In America and Australia, the voters have retrospectively endorsed their leaders’ decision to invade Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. In Britain, the arguments continue, and some opposition MPs recently tried to impeach the Prime Minister for his decision to participate in what his Attorney General apparently feared was an illegal war. Several government-appointed commissions have examined the decision to go to war, and the government’s line is that these commissions have vindicated Tony Blair’s decision to join Bush in this military expedition. Critics, on the other hand, have noted that the scope of these enquiries was limited to narrow aspects of pre-war intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction and have called persistently for an enquiry by a panel of independent experts with a wider remit and a greater distance from the governmental structures involved, to look at all aspects of whether the war was justified.

May I be the first (but surely not the last) to suggest that such a panel should include St Thomas Aquinas, Christine de Pisan, Hugo Grotius and Alexander of Hales? Tom, Chris, Hugo and Alex have already given deep consideration to the question of when it is right to go to war, and many of their ideas on the subject have been incorporated into the relevant international legislation, so they are ideally qualified to investigate the rightness of invading Iraq.

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