Europe has everything to lose from nuclear war, and nothing to gain from it. Yet it is nuclear deterrence that we are relying on to shield us from war. In this book, originally published in 1983, philosophers go behind the rhetoric of the nuclear debate and analyse the dangers of deterrence.

Acknowledgments. Notes on Contributors. Introduction: A Sceptical Look at the Nuclear Debate Nigel Blake and Kay Pole. Deterrence, Provocation and the Martian Temperament Mary Midgley. Unilateralism: A Clausewitzian Reform? Ken Booth. Nuclear Blackmail Jeff McMahan. Proliferation and the Nature of Deterrence Barrie Paskins. Games Theory and the Nuclear Arms Race Nicholas Measor. Three Main Fallacies in Discussions of Nuclear Weapons W. B. Gallie. Index.