Are nuclear weopons evil?

Question

If they are not, then why shouldn't everyone have them, and if they are then why should anyone have them?

Don't say they are inanimate objects, that's false, that's like saying the intent the object is created for has nothing to do with it's possesion. Is a torture chamber with tools to rip your flesh not evil, if you don't use it?

Answer 1

it the people that are evil....

Answer 2

They are inanimate objects. Morality does not apply to them.

Now, you might ask if the intentions behind their construction were good or evil. A weapon, by itself, is not necessarily created to kill. Weapons can also serve as a deterrent to those who would employ destructive means. A country with nuclear weapons has such a strong retaliatory force that a war could be less likely to happen...which had basically been the point behind the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty during the Cold War.

Furthermore, nuclear weapons could have peaceful applications. Hollywood comes up with weird fiction involving their use every 20 minutes. They may be a bit ludicrous, but a well-timed nuclear strike could at least alter the orbit of an asteroid, to use one example. I'd rather have a weapon ready to go than to try to invent something on-the-spot.

Finally, pursuing new ways of war usually lead to peaceful applications for the same advances, as well as leading engineers to understand some of the problems presented by the technological breakthroughs in question.

In the end, destructive tools aren't the problem. How they're used is what matters, from a moral standpoint.

Answer 3

A nuclear weapon is an inanimate object, so how could it be one or the other... not that anything could ever be inherently "evil" or "good" anyway... THAT's illogical. What people DO with them, to cause harm and suffering, that could be considered "evil" in some circles of thought.

_()_

Answer 4

>Are nuclear weopons evil?

No. For something to be evil it must be able to think. The guidance computers in nuclear missiles can think to a small extent, but they have no understanding of what they are doing and certainly no understanding of its ultimate effects.

>If they are not, then why shouldn't everyone have them

Because evil PEOPLE can still use the nuclear weapons to do enormous amounts of damage.

Answer 5

Nuclear weapons were designed to kill large groups of people and poison areas. Civilians can't be excluded from causalties; damage cannot be resolved or removed by political agreement; damage can affect generations unborn. Their use is morally inexcusable; their possession, only useful for terrorizing and tyrannizing.

I'd rather no one had them.

Answer 6

Nuclear weapons are not evil . The threat is supposed to be the deterent. It's the people who use them. Who has so far used them?

Answer 7

that's the way you compare something? if it is good everyone should have one if it is bad no one should have one. Lame
there are worse things in the world than something as trivial as nuclear weapons. religion is probably the most evil thing in the world and yet anyone is allowed that.

Answer 8

well, they are pretty bad, but they are used for evil purposes
but everyone shouldnt have them cuz if they are all over the place, then they could fall into the hands of truly evil men with the intent on destroying the world

Answer 9

Yes they are, If every country had them and they all used them the world would be no more. With the technology in those warheads today they have enough power to wipe out an enitre mid-sized state.

Answer 10

a thing is not good nor evil. People are evil, that is why they should not have nuclear weapons.

Answer 11

all weapons are not evil is the result of man intentions actions or misuse of these weapons or technology that is evil