Provide a 8 pages analysis while answering the following question: Just War Ethics Theories. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. This essay states that utilitarianism is the best theory that can be used to shed more light on the just war tradition in place of the usual deontological and virtue ethics perspectives.

The theory of virtue ethics was proposed by Aristotle and the decision-making process in war may be based on it. Virtue ethics mainly pay attention to the character of the individual rather than the morality of the action. In this case, a moral individual will base the decisions of their actions on well-established values that they have acquired over the years rather than their duty or consequences (Cafaro and Ronald, 2010). Therefore, virtue ethics states that there are no situations in which war should be considered to be right be it for reasons of duty or the big picture that is attained once the dust has settled. A culture of values is ingrained into a person’s ethical framework and guides them in their ethical decisions.

According to virtue ethics, war is unjust as it is not part and parcel of eudemonia meaning that it does not promote the well-being of individuals. However, there are instances where war qualifies as eudemonia for example, where war takes place in order to find peace. All in all, virtue ethics suggests that war is never justified. In times of war, soldiers are required to be brave and fight for the rights of the defenseless in society (Cafaro and Ronald, 2010). This goes against their code of conduct where they are required to follow the orders that are issued by their superiors. Virtue ethics has an important contribution to make with regards to the soldiers’ training process. If individuals are taught to behave in a certain way, this behavior becomes a part of them. Therefore, virtue ethics insinuates that it would be wrong to train soldiers to kill as they will act as instructed regardless of the kind of damage they cause to the victims.