War and Morality

Consciousness, however, sets man and animal apart, otherwise we may still be living in the jungles among the other inhabitants of this planet. Feeling remorse, sorrow, guilt, and sympathy is the price of consciousness and evolution. Even so, considering the primitive and instinctual nature of warfare, why does mankind continue to experience these emotions with respect to casualties of war? One must conclude that the reasoning for war and the actual fighting of war are two distinct things. Whether or not people perceive the reasoning for war as a just cause, dictates how severe the casualties of war weigh on their conscience. Considering how undesirable these emotions are, it is not surprising that man has developed a loophole enabling him to justify his actions and relax his conscience. This loophole is morality. .
             If one can morally justify his actions, his conscience is clear, and he has done the right thing, at least from his perspective. But who is to say that one individual's moral values and beliefs are more correct than anothers? Perhaps that person's moral values are not sound at all. Adolf Hitler felt his quest to conquer Europe and systematically exterminate its Jewish population was completely morally justified. As heinous as one may think this man's crimes were, it is not the place of another individual to judge Hitler's moral convictions on the grounds that his own are more righteous. No one individual's moral values should set the standard for the rest of the world. Obviously there is a standard, otherwise society would be racked by chaos. Historically, only two institutions have enjoyed the support and prestige necessary to dictate what that moral standard should be: religion and the state. Even though this greatly reduces the number of conflicting sets of moral values, clearly many of the world's faiths and governments are in disagreement about what the standard should be.