Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Violence, Just Cyber War and Information

  • Special Issue
  • Published:
Philosophy & Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Abstract

Cyber warfare has changed the scenario of war from an empirical and a theoretical viewpoint. Cyber war is no longer based on physical violence only, but on military, political, economic and ideological strategies meant to exploit a state’s informational resources. This means that a deeper understanding of what cyber war is requires us to adopt an informational approach. This approach may enable us to account for the two-dimensional nature of cyber war (destruction and exploitation), to revise the notion of violence on which war is premised and to understand to what extent the traditional ideas of ‘just war’ may apply to the scenario of cyber warfare. This point is crucial, since it concerns whether a cyber war is meant to restore a broken international political and legal order or to participate in its construction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Benjamin, W. (1985). Critique of violence [1921], in one-way street, and other writings (pp. 132–154). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bobbio, N. (1979). Il problema della guerra e le vie della pace. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durante, M. (2003). Violenza e diritto nella riflessione d’Emmanuel Levinas. Riflessioni sul post-totalitarismo. in AA. VV. Annali della Facoltà di Giurisprudenza dell’Università di Ferrara, Nuova Serie, Vol. XVII, Giuffré, Milano, 141–164.

  • Durante, M. (2013). Notes on Lorenzo Magnani understanding violence. Mind & Society, 12(2), 257–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi, L. (1999). Information ethics: on the philosophical foundation of computer ethics. Ethics and Information Technology, 1, 37–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi, L. (2010). Information. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi, L. (2011). The philosophy of information. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi, L. (2013). The ethics of information. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gervais, M. (2011). Cyber attacks and the laws of war (October 1, 2011). Http://ssrn.com/abstract=1939615.

  • Hathaway, O.-A., Crootof, R., Levitz, P., Nix, H., Nowlan, A., Perdue, W., & Spiegel, J. (2012). The law of cyber-attack. California Law Review, 100, 817–885.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbes, T. (Ed.). (1998). De Cive [1642]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbes, T. (Ed.). (2008). Leviathan [1651]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelsen, H. (1966). Principles of international law (IIth ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kesan, J. P., & Hayes, C. M. (2012). Mitigative counterstriking: self-defence and deterrence in cyberspace. Harvard Journal of Law& Technology, 25(2), 429–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinas, E. (1990). Difficult freedom. Essays on Judaism. London: The Athlone Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, J. (Ed.). (1998). Two treatises of government [1690]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnani, L. (2011). Understanding violence. The intertwining of morality, religion and violence: a philosophical stance. Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, J.-S. (2004). Soft powers: the means to success in world politics. New York: Public Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pagallo, U. (2011). Robots of just war: a legal perspective. Philosophy and Technology, 24(3), 307–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pagallo, U. (2013). The laws of robots: crimes, contracts, and torts. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Picone, P. (1995). Interventi delle Nazioni Unite e obblighi erga omnes’, in Id. (a cura di). Interventi delle Nazioni Unite e diritto internazionale, Cedam, Padova.

  • Richardson, J.-C. (2011). Stuxnet as cyberwarfare: applying the law of war to the virtual battlefield (July 22, 2011). Http://ssrn.com/abstract=1892888.

  • Rousseau, J.-J. (Ed.). (1997). The social contract [1762]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimdt, E., & Cohen, J. (2013). The new digital age: reshaping the future of people. Knopf: Nations and Business.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, M.-N. (2014). The law of cyber warfare: quo vadis? in Stanford Law and Policy Review. forthcoming, 1–24.

  • Shue, H. (1980). Basic rights: subsistence, affluence, and U.S. foreign policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viola, F. (2005). La teoria della guerra giusta e i diritti umani, in AA.VV., Pace, sicurezza, diritti umani, a cura di S. Semplici, Messaggero, Padova, 39–68.

  • Žižek, S. (2008). Violence. London: Profile.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Massimo Durante.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Durante, M. Violence, Just Cyber War and Information. Philos. Technol. 28, 369–385 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-014-0176-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-014-0176-5

Keywords

Navigation