The value of something like just war theory isn't so much to say the concept is right or wrong, or this historical war was right or wrong, although plenty of people love to derail the discussion to grind their own particular axe on those topics, but the real value is to define the right way to talk about the topic, and that doesn't change much with time.
As a minimal example of a very small corner of the field today, look at the current Catholic dogma where they say the right way to talk about it is WRT the damage an aggressor or proposed victim is causing must be "lasting, grave, and certain". Arguably the order the arguments are discussed implies a certain priority to the issues.
Hopefully I've managed to offend grand op by pointing out that as long as it takes PR to cause a war, then the philosophical subfield of just war theory will be living and growing continuously over time, while also offending great grand op by pointing out that just because you haven't read Saint Augustine on the topic of just war (or possibly anything else) doesn't prove he has nothing of value in 2017. Or my genealogy of posts might be inaccurate, but whatever.
The value of something like just war theory isn't so much to say the concept is right or wrong, or this historical war was right or wrong, although plenty of people love to derail the discussion to grind their own particular axe on those topics, but the real value is to define the right way to talk about the topic, and that doesn't change much with time.
As a minimal example of a very small corner of the field today, look at the current Catholic dogma where they say the right way to talk about it is WRT the damage an aggressor or proposed victim is causing must be "lasting, grave, and certain". Arguably the order the arguments are discussed implies a certain priority to the issues.
Hopefully I've managed to offend grand op by pointing out that as long as it takes PR to cause a war, then the philosophical subfield of just war theory will be living and growing continuously over time, while also offending great grand op by pointing out that just because you haven't read Saint Augustine on the topic of just war (or possibly anything else) doesn't prove he has nothing of value in 2017. Or my genealogy of posts might be inaccurate, but whatever.