One of the most contested arguments in contemporary just war thinking has been the question of the right starting point of analysis. On one side of the argument, one finds Catholic Church officials who argue for a ‘presumption against war’ as jumping-off point. On the other, one encounters critics of that position, led by James Turner Johnson, who defend a ‘presumption against injustice’ as the correct point of entry. Interestingly, both sides refer to St Thomas Aquinas, the key figure in the systematisation of the classical just war, as giving support to their respective position. While Johnson was vindicated as far as Aquinas’s historical starting point is concerned, debate about the contemporary purchase of the presumption against war has continued until the present day. Historical just war thinkers like Johnson have criticised the Church not only for turning the logic of the just war tradition on its head by reversing the inherited hierarchy between the so-called deontological and prudential criteria, but have also questioned the empirical evidence that has put the Church on this trajectory. In this article, I explain how the debate about the presumption against war continues to be relevant by engaging with the general direction the Catholic Church has taken up until Pope Francis and by investigating the particular example of its position on drone warfare. I point out that while the presumption against war runs counter to what Aquinas wrote during his days, Thomistic virtue ethics is generally open to development. The Church may thus claim a Thomistic patrimony in advocating for a presumption against war, but, as I demonstrate, the just war thinking that results, often referred to as modern-war pacifism, struggles to address important moral issues raised by contemporary warfare.

中文翻译：

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重新审视天主教反对战争的假设

当代正义战争思想中最具争议的论点之一是正确的分析起点问题。在争论的一方面，有人认为天主教会官员以“反对战争的推定”为起点。另一方面，有人会遇到由詹姆斯·特纳·约翰逊 (James Turner Johnson) 领导的对该立场的批评，他们捍卫“反对不公正的推定”是正确的切入点。有趣的是，双方都将古典正义战争系统化的关键人物圣托马斯·阿奎那称为对各自立场的支持。虽然就阿奎那的历史起点而言，约翰逊是正确的，但关于当代购买反战推定的争论一直持续到今天。像约翰逊这样的历史正义战争思想家批评教会不仅通过颠倒所谓的道义标准和审慎标准之间继承的等级制度来将正义战争传统的逻辑颠倒过来，而且还质疑使正义战争成为现实的经验证据。教会走在这条轨道上。在这篇文章中，我通过探讨天主教会在教皇方济各之前采取的总体方向并调查其在无人机战争上的立场的具体例子，解释了关于反对战争推定的辩论如何继续相关。我指出，虽然反对战争的推定与阿奎那在他时代所写的背道而驰，但托马斯美德伦理学总体上是开放的。因此，教会在提倡反对战争的过程中可能会声称拥有托马斯主义的遗产，但是，