The first time that you grasp McMahan’s account the implications should strike you as thunderous. In the blurb for his book, McMahan’s mentor Derek Parfit points out that McMahan’s account shows just how difficult it is to fight a just war. The consequences for the moral responsibilities of actual combatants are profound. McMahan is clear about the implications of his views in an interview he did for this course, which you should listen to next.
In order to consolidate your understanding of McMahan’s position you should listen to the audio recording ‘McMahan against the moral equality of combatants’.
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