Rick Werner, the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, published “Just War Theory: Going To War And Collective Self Deception” in the Routledge Handbook of Ethics and War: Just War Theory in the 21st Century.
Using evidence both from U.S. wars since World War II and from contemporary cognitive psychology and neuroscience, Werner argues that we collectively deceived ourselves about our motives and our ability to both win and afford those wars.
Those wars killed countless innocent people especially children. So it is reasonable to assume that we will not be able to win or to afford future wars that we are likely to fight, i.e., asymmetrical wars, yet we will collectively deceive ourselves and fight such wars anyway killing even more innocents. Accordingly, unless we are directly attacked to engage in future war is both irrational and unjust.
