ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that rules are often extensive and detailed, for instance, the provisions that govern the treatment of prisoners of war, the enemy sick and injured, and the population of an occupied territory. The principal thesis of this chapter is that utilitarianism not only strongly endorses the received rules of war but also provides the most plausible and coherent moral basis for them. Richard Brandt agrees to rules forbidding actions, such as abusing prisoners of war or harming civilians or their property in occupied territories that contribute little or nothing to victory. Michael Walzer responds that utilitarianism lacks creative power. Utilitarians, however, differ from George Mavrodes in how they understand ones obligation to respect civilian immunity. Utilitarians and other critics of this view deny that there could be a morality of war that was different from the best possible rules for regulating war.
