"...But the kind of weaponry that was developed toward the end of World War II created a qualitatively new problem. The degree of change that was then brought about can best be expressed by saying we can no longer assume that, if the most powerful existing weapons are used, there will still be a human race and a habitable earth left when the war is over. And it is self-evident that with no human beings and no habitable earth left, it would be meaningless to talk of victory, of a better future, of a just cause, or of true patriotism, that is, true love of one's fatherland and one's people. Let us therefore examine carefully the new conditions of our contemporary situation in the effort to understand and deal with it."

**John Somerville

Ethics 91 (July 1981): 568-578

©1981 by The University of Chicago. 0014-1704/81/9104-0008$01.00