Argument evaluation methods and approaches

¶ … good/bad Y when measured by criteria A, B and C. Every argument regardless of what is its nature, tries to forward a claim. This claim needs to be supported by evidence and this is where a certain 'criteria' is used. The criteria serve as the grounds for a person's claims. For example we may say that Godfather was a bad movie because it promotes violence, mafia-culture and sympathizes with wrong doers. This is just a claim which the person then supports with his evidence. In this paper we shall argue against wars. Claim made here is 'All wars are morally wrong" no matter what its objective was because it leads to death and destructive and breaks the human bond. It results in loss of human life, loss of property and hurts the emotional mental state of people. There are people who feel that not all wars are wrong since some are fought for the betterment of the world like the Second World War which put an end to the destructive rule of Hitler. However this claim is bogus since it doesn't take into account the enormous losses that fed this war. A whole generation was lost when millions of young soldiers lost their lives and left thousand others injured and scarred. All wars are morally wrong. They lead to destruction and teach human beings to kill and destroy each other. Human beings are meant to support each other for the development of a more livable world. We grow up learning that we must not discriminate against others on the basis of race and culture. However wars negate all these beliefs and teach young people that those who do not follow their beliefs are wrong and should be killed. Do we know what Second World War caused the world in terms of human life and property damage? Probably not; because none of us was there to witness of horrors of this massive military conflict. It pays therefore to take a look at some of the key results of Second World War to understand why wars are morally wrong.

In this war, Japan was vehemently attacked with two atomic bomb blasts on its cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the very first time an atomic bomb was used and we can say with certain degree of certainty that America tested its bombs on poor innocent civilians of Japan. Millions of people were killed by these attacks. Hundreds of thousands of people were injured and crippled and several generations of Japanese people had to suffer mental retardation and physical incapacity as a result of the inhuman radiation effects of the nuclear bombs. The economy of Japan collapsed completely and it took Japan several decades to make up for the economic losses it suffered during the Second World War. However, the human suffering could not be compensated by economic prosperity of later years.

No one can compensate the parents who lost their children to after-effects of an atomic explosion.

This war and several others that followed opened doors for more military conflicts and greater destruction of the so-called enemy. Who is our enemy? If people of the other countries are our enemies, why are we ever taught not to discriminate? For surely when the war begins, we have to give up all that we were previously taught and stand united to destroy the weaker enemy completely. The world as it stands today may have underpinnings of a Third World War at any point of time in the future. So, it is fairly correct to state that all wars are wrong. Why some countries or nations feel proud of the wars they fought and do not believe all wars are wrong are basically shortsighted, selfish and narrow minded. They probably see the world as it exists today and have forgotten or do not know how the present day countries and nations emerged, how much their older generations suffered and how much economic, political and social power they lost. Germany provides a good example.

The country suffered immensely when its land and resources were divided and two relatively smaller countries called East and West Germany were carved out under two totally opposite economic and political systems and its people were separated between the borders of two independent countries after the Second World War. Millions of citizens lost their relatives and friends in this ugly division of boundaries. Did anyone think about their pain and suffering? No. Because we considered them the enemy and they were meant to suffer. We probably never even thought of them as humans. This is why wars are morally wrong. They do not foster friendship love and peace; instead they lead to destructive, death and break the human bond.