Dudley Knowles Memorial Lecture in Political Philosophy: Victor Tadros, Glasgow 25 January
THE STEVENSON TRUST FOR CITIZENSHIP
Dudley Knowles Memorial Lecture in Political Philosophy
Professor Victor Tadros
Professor of Criminal Law and Legal Theory
University of Warwick
‘A Moral Law for War’
Wednesday, January 25th 2017 at 6 p.m.
Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre
(Corner of Gibson Street and University Avenue)
A substantial body of recent work in just war theory claims that the moral considerations that determine whether acts of individual combatants during a war are permissible or wrong are not reflected in the laws of armed conflict. Whereas morality prohibits the killing of combatants on the just side of a war, the law does not. And whereas morality sometimes permits the killing of non-combatants on the unjust side, again the law does not. Many also defend these divergences between law and morality. I will offer a cautious case for revising the law to achieve greater convergence between morality and the laws of war.
Professor Dudley Ross Knowles (1947 – 2014) was a renowned political philosopher who taught at Glasgow University from 1973 to 2011. He was a staunch supporter of the Stevenson Trust and insisted that the Trust’s commitment to public education must include the contribution of political philosophy to examining issues of contemporary relevance in a manner accessible to all citizens. In 2015 the Stevenson committee endorsed his view by instigating an annual public lecture on political philosophy in his memory.
The lecture will be followed by discussion and a drinks reception at 7.30 p.m. All staff, students, and members of the public are welcome. No advance booking is necessary. For further information contact: stevensontrust@glasgow.ac.uk