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'Life, Death, and the Western Way of War' traces when and how western soldiers - once regarded as simple fighting tools - became the far less expendable beings that we know today. In Kant's terms, the study traces the process through which soldiers have been turned from mere military means into ends in themselves. The book argues that such a major transformation is largely the result of a shift in the social meaning ascribed to soldiers' death. It suggests that looking at death can somehow provide a privileged angle to understanding the value that societies attach to life. The narrative emerging from the empirical evidence will show that the story of attitudes towards soldiers' death is the story of a gradual, increasing process of individualization in the social meaning attached to human loss in war.

Soldiers --- Military casualties --- War (Philosophy) --- Death. --- Individuation (Philosophy) --- History. --- Philosophy --- Haecceity (Philosophy) --- Individuals (Philosophy) --- Individuation --- Particulars (Philosophy) --- Life --- Terminal care --- Terminally ill --- Thanatology --- Death --- Dying --- End of life --- War --- Victims --- Casualties, Military --- Armed Forces --- Armed Forces personnel --- Members of the Armed Forces --- Military personnel --- Military service members --- Service members --- Servicemen, Military --- Casualty aversion (Military science) --- Aversion, Casualty (Military science) --- Bloodless warfare --- Strategy