Mind the gap(s): Moral philosophy, international law and interpretative historical sociology

Abstract

Given the diversity of opinions about whether, how, and towards which end Western societies should defend Ukraine against the ongoing Russian aggression, it would be desirable to spell out clear moral principles and apply them in a contextually adequate way to the situation. This is what Hans-Herbert Kögler tries to do in his contribution to this issue. However, his reasoning remains unclear about the relation between moral philosophy and empirical and historical knowledge about the context of moral action. Furthermore, while he proposes critical-hermeneutic reconstruction as a means to understand the participants in the conflicts, he applies this approach in an asymmetric and insufficiently nuanced way. His view of the conflict as a struggle between democracy and dictatorship about a future world-order is too dichotomic and ignores the history of international law as a practical moral philosophy dealing with situations for which there are no unambiguous principles that could guide action.