ABSTRACT
Tradition-based approaches to the study of ethics of war in the Western context have typically focused on the historical development of what is called the just war tradition. The chapter describes examples of tradition-based ethics of war and analyzes the work of several thinkers interested in the just war tradition, emphasizing the varying ways in which these thinkers understand the justifying authority of traditional sources. It turns to studies of Islamic ethics of war that focus on the ways in which moral reasoning about jihad has been connected to the development of the jurisprudential tradition of Shariah. The chapter considers some of the challenges and potential limitations of the tradition-based approach in comparison with the other approaches. Tradition-based approaches to the study of the ethics of war in the Islamic tradition have, by and large, focused on early Islamic history to deliberate questions related to the just use of force.
