Regardless of whether you believe the world is a perfect place or you are agnostic, war has a profound effect on the human psyche. It is estimated that up to 90% of the casualties in contemporary conflicts are civilians. The vast majority of these casualties are women. Attempts to resolve these conflicts through peaceful means are often futile.

War is a phenomenon that has been around for ages. Its roots are in ancient civilizations and the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Today, it is a highly organized and politically controlled phenomenon. It is a relation between a state and another state, with a set of rules and conventions that can be traced back to religions and ancient cultures.

In the modern day, it is a phenomenon that is governed by international humanitarian law. This law is based on the work of the first Geneva Convention, which was signed in 1864 by twelve European countries. The ICRC, or the International Committee of the Red Cross, has a special role in enforcing the laws of war. It helps the United Nations determine the guilt of war crimes by requiring member states to report violations. It also makes recommendations to update the rules. In the 1990s, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia helped punish war criminals.

Various philosophers have examined the connection between war and morality. They disagree as to how much of the latter is affected by the nature of war. Some claim that the nature of war discards morality. Others, however, insist that war and morality do not mix.

The concept of war can be traced to Neolithic and Mesolithic times. In these times, the reasons for war were fear of others and threats. Although these reasons have changed over time, they still remain the same. During the Middle Ages, the concept of war was criticized by philosophers, such as Vico. During the Enlightenment, Voltaire argued that famine, plague, and war were the three ingredients of a wretched world.

The modern concept of war is influenced by a number of political schools. These schools differ in their conception of what constitutes war and the responsibility of the state. While some of them, such as Hume and Rousseau, believe that war is an organic part of man’s nature, other writers argue that the state must be active.

The legitimacy of a legal authority to declare war depends on what “the people” want. The state’s leaders are both morally and politically responsible for their actions. The state is a harbinger of war and must ensure that it is waged in a just way. It is therefore a good idea to consider what notions of sovereignty and individuality are at stake in the debate over war.

One of the key concepts of philosophy of war is the relationship between the state and the people. The concept of the state is not unique to war; it also applies to other aspects of political and moral philosophy.