Nathan Gabriel Wood

The Czech Academy of Sciences | AVCR · Institute of Philosophy

Though war is never a good thing, all things considered, there are times when it is arguably justified. Most obviously, providing direct military assistance to a victim of unjust aggression would constitute a rather clear case for military intervention. However, the providing of direct military assistance may in some cases be a prospect fraught wit...

A classic objection to autonomous weapon systems (AWS) is that these could create so-called responsibility gaps, where it is unclear who should be held responsible in the event that an AWS were to violate some portion of the law of armed conflict (LOAC). However, those who raise this objection generally do so presenting it as a problem for AWS as a...

Though warfare has remained a terrestrial affair to date, humanity's conflicts may soon reach beyond the confines of Earth. In particular, the relevance of satellites for military affairs makes them a prime target for states at war. This article, however, applies the existing Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) to outer space warfare and shows that kinet...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become nearly ubiquitous in modern society, from components of mobile applications to medical support systems, and everything in between. In societally impactful systems imbued with AI, there has been increasing concern related to opaque AI, that is, artificial intelligence where it is unclear how or why certain dec...

The article discusses a recent Guardian report about an AI-enabled drone "killing" its operator during a simulation, and argues that such incidents do not necessarily present reasons against developing autonomous weapons, but instead highlight the importance of testing and evaluation of new systems. Furthermore, knee-jerk calls to ban autonomous we...

Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT present immense opportunities, but without proper training for users (and potentially oversight), they carry risks of misuse as well. We argue that current approaches focusing predominantly on transparency and explainability fall short in addressing the diverse needs and concerns of various user groups....

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become nearly ubiquitous in modern society, from components of mobile applications to medical support systems, and everything in between. In societally impactful systems imbued with AI, there has been increasing concern related to opaque AI, that is, artificial intelligence where it is unclear how or why certain dec...

Worsening energy crises and the growing effects of climate change have spurred, among other things, concerted efforts to tackle global problems through what the United Nations calls Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are in turn argued to be best achieved via the adoption of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) as the vehi...

In many debates surrounding autonomous weapon systems (AWS) or AI-enabled platforms in the military, critics present both over- and under-hyped presentations of the capabilities of such systems, creating a risk of derailing critical debates on how best to regulate these in the military. In particular, in this article, I show that critics utilize ov...

Autonomous weapon systems (AWS) have seen significant criticism in the academic literature and public sphere, most notably from organizations like the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots or Human Rights Watch, and to a lesser extent from the International Committee of the Red Cross. However, those arguing for a ban on AWS often rely on arguments that ar...

The principle of proportionality demands that a war (or action in war) achieve more goods than bads. In the philosophical literature there has been a wealth of work examining precisely which goods and bads may count toward this evaluation. However, in all of these discussions there is no mention of one of the most certain bads of war, namely the ps...

In many debates on autonomous weapon systems (AWS), critics argue that these will likely not be able to carry out the difficult task of distinguishing between legitimate targets and those protected from attack. This is argued to render AWS in violation of the principle of distinction, which requires that combatants "not make civilians the object of...

Due to advances in military technology, there has been an outpouring of research on what are known as autonomous weapon systems (AWS). However, it is common in this literature for arguments to be made without first making clear exactly what definitions one is employing, with the detrimental effect that authors may speak past one another or even mis...

In his article, “Should Space Travel be Human or Robotic? Reasons for and against full automation for space missions,” Maurizio Balistreri explores the ongoing debate regarding whether space travel, exploration, and extra-terrestrial colonization should be the domain of humans or robots. Balistreri explores both technical and normative arguments fo...

Autonomous weapon systems (AWS) have seen significant criticism in the academic literature and public sphere, most notably from organizations like the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots or Human Rights Watch, and to a lesser extent from the International Committee of the Red Cross. However, those arguing for a ban on AWS often rely on arguments that ar...

One classic objection to autonomous weapon systems (AWS) is that these could create so-called responsibility gaps, where it is unclear who should be held responsible in the event that an AWS were to violate some portion of the law of armed conflict (LOAC). However, those who raise this objection generally do so presenting it as a problem for AWS as...

Though war is never a good thing, all things considered, there are times when it is arguably justified. Most obviously, providing direct military assistance to a victim of unjust aggression would constitute a rather clear case for military intervention. However, the providing of direct military assistance may in some cases be a prospect fraught wit...

Contemporary proponents of republican political theory often focus on the concept of freedom as non-domination, and how best to promote it within a state. However, there is little attention paid to what the republican conception of freedom demands in the international realm. In this essay I examine what is required for an agent to enjoy freedom as...

In a recent article Duncan Purves, Ryan Jenkins, and B.J. Strawser¹ argue that in order for a decision in war to be just, or indeed the decision to resort to war to be just, it must be the case that the decision is made for the right reasons. Furthermore, they argue that this requirement holds regardless of how much good is produced by said action....

The principle of proportionality demands that a war (or action in war) achieve more goods than bads. In the philosophical literature there has been a wealth of work examining precisely which goods and bads may count toward this evaluation. However, in all of these discussions there is no mention of one of the most certain bads of war, namely psycho...

Due to recent advances in military technology, there has been an outpouring of scholarly research on what are known as autonomous weapons systems (AWS). However, it is common in this literature for arguments to be made without first making clear exactly what definitions one is employing, with the detrimental effect that authors may speak past one a...

Autonomous weapons systems (AWS), sometimes referred to as “killer robots”, are receiving ever more attention, both in public discourse as well as by scholars and policymakers. Much of this interest is connected to emerging ethical and legal problems linked to increasing autonomy in weapons systems, but there is a general underappreciation for the...

Proportionality is a central principle in both the ethics and laws of war, demanding that the goods achieved by a particular military action not be outweighed by the attendant harms imposed. However, there is little discussion in the philosophical literature as to how one determines which goods and bads are to be counted when making proportionality...

In international law and the ethics of war, there are a variety of actions which are seen as particularly problematic and presumed to be always or inherently wrong, or in need of some overwhelmingly strong justification to override the presumption against them. One of these actions is assassination, in particular, assassination of heads of state. I...

Autonomous weapons systems (AWS), sometimes referred to as “killer robots”, are receiving evermore attention, both in public discourse as well as by scholars and policymakers. Much of this interest is connected with emerging ethical and legal problems linked to increasing autonomy in weapons systems, but there is a general underappreciation for the...

Warfare is becoming increasingly automated, from automatic missile defense systems to micro-UAVs (WASPs) that can maneuver through urban environments with ease, and each advance brings with it ethical questions in need of resolving. Proponents of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) provide varied arguments in their favor, ranging from claims t...

One of the central principles of the law of armed combat (LOAC) is the principle of necessity, which (roughly) maintains that during the course of military operations one is prohibited from imposing any harms which are not necessary for securing one's goals. This principle has been a foundational concern for the morality of war since (at least) the...

Since the beginning of the so-called "War on Terror" in 2001, there have been many questions regarding the legitimacy or permissibility of counter-terror military actions abroad, with specific concerns as to whether such a war could fulfill the various criteria necessary for a war to be deemed just. In particular, there are serious concerns regardi...