From the beginning, the main ethical ql,les tions re,garding war have been (1) How-if at all can war be
justified? and (2) Assuming it cm •be: justified, how should it be conducted? Most•seri.Qus responses to these. questions• have fallen into three major categories, traditionally labeled real- ismpacifismand just war theory. Realism (as;,applied to warfare) is the view that moral stan-. dards are not applicable to war, which must be•judged only on prudence, on how well war serves••state interests. War cannot be immoral, only more• or less advantageous for the state. Eminent real.ists of the past include the philosophers NiccoloMachiavelli (1469-1527) and Thomas Hobbe, (1588-1679); perhaps the most famous contem-porary realist is Henry Kissinger, former U.S. sec;retary of state for the Nixon administration.