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37 J. Value Inquiry 1 (2003)

handle is hein.journals/jrnlvi37 and id is 1 raw text is: 4I The Journal of Value Inquiry 37: 1-11, 2003. 1 © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. EDITORIAL Life and Liberty on a Global Scale THOMAS MAGNELL Editor-in-Chief We are entering an era in which powerful weapons are becoming ever more affordable. This presents a problem of global proportions. The problem is one of scale, of global scale. Indeed it is a scaling problem. The conditions of war are changing, threatening our lives and liberties. We are all in peril. The problem is of our own making, a product of intelligence that yet increases our vulnerability. It will be our unmaking, unless we employ greater intelligence to lessen our exposure to risk. The danger of unspeakable horrors will continue to grow until we recognize the seriousness of the changing conditions of war and address them realistically. This will inevitably require power, sufficient force to avert war. This in turn must be of concern for all who highly value life and liberty. Life and liberty are rightly understood as preeminent among prudential values and, together with justice, preeminent among moral values. In addition to their inherent value, life and liberty have irreplaceable instrumental value in the pursuit of happiness or anything else. The challenge, then, prudentially and morally, is to give full scope to the values of life and liberty in realistically addressing the changing conditions of war. Adding to our difficulties is the urgency of the problem. The declining costs of powerful weapons with offensive capacity should command our attention. Were it not for that, we could make sport of theoretical differences in proposals for mere possible worlds. As it is, we have prudential and moral reasons to address the challenge of the era in the actual world. The challenge can be met through the institution of a global authority in a duly constituted global federation. Under the conditions we face, for the long term, it can perhaps only be met in this way. Weapons are instruments of power. They leverage power, offensively or defensively. For offensive weapons, destructive capacity is a measure of potential use. There is a spectrum of destructive capacity. At the low end are what we may call weapons of modest destruction, means of maiming, killing, and otherwise visiting harm on an individual basis. Knives, small arms, everyday implements of damaging personal property, the weapons most

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