The Moral Justification of the Atomic Bomb

Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer has revived debate about America's decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was dropping the bomb a moral atrocity or a moral necessity? Did it unjustifiably target innocent civilians, or was it a justifiable act of self-defense? What does history teach us about what alternatives might have been pursued? And what does moral philosophy teach us about the framework we should use when deciding matters of life and death in times of war? Join Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos to re-examine both these historical and philosophical questions from the perspective of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.