Ethical foundations for understanding war and peace in the context of hybrid conflicts as a component of contemporary security philosophy

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a philosophical understanding of war and peace in the context of hybrid conflicts through the prism of the ethical dimension of modern security, as well as to identify moral principles that can serve as a guide for society and the state in situations of prolonged confrontation.

Methods. The work uses methods of analysis and synthesis to comprehend military-peace transformations, a comparative approach to comparing classical concepts of war and modern forms of confrontation, as well as ethical-philosophical reflection and conceptual analysis to identify the moral foundations of modern security.

Results. It has been established that hybrid conflicts destabilize relations between countries and can lead to armed confrontations without a formal declaration of war. Under such conditions, conventional military actions are combined with unconventional methods of struggle: information attacks, cyber warfare, economic pressure, diplomatic sabotage, etc. The peculiarities of the shifting boundaries between military and non-military forms of violence have been identified, which are gradually being transferred from the usual battlefield and territories of direct military operations to the sphere of information, economy, culture, and digital networks, taking the concept of war beyond the limits of physical confrontation. The focus is on the erosion of the fundamental principle of humanitarian law – the principle of distinction. It has been proven that in conditions of hybridity, a radical transformation of the statuses of «combatant» and «non-combatants are taking place. It is argued that, due to the processes of instrumentalization and digitalization, the civilian population is becoming an active participant in network conflicts, in which the concept of moral responsibility for actions is practically blurred. The article identifies ethical dilemmas in the use of non-kinetic weapons, the main ones being summarized under the headings «just cause», «distinction, last resort»,«responsibility», and «moral autonomy». They signal that it is time to form a new ethical paradigm of security, the focus of which shifts from the physical protection of territories to the cognitive and value stability of society. The decisive factors for this paradigm are information hygiene and the moral autonomy of each citizen. The need to preserve human dignity is emphasized, which can be achieved through the solidarity of ethical responsibility of all actors in international relations.

Conclusions. Hybrid conflicts blur the lines between military and civilian actors and between physical and non-kinetic forms of violence, necessitating the formation of a new ethical paradigm of security focused on moral responsibility, information hygiene, and the cognitive resilience of society.