Military Ethics Education and the Changing Nature of Warfare

This article analyzes two traditional approaches to teaching military ethics, aspirational and functionalist approach, in light of the existing technological development in the military. Introduction of new technological solutions to waging warfare that involve dehumanization, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as employment of different technological tools to enhance humans participating in war and to improve military efficiency (such as built-in AI algorithms), not only bring to the surfaces the obviously existing weakness and inadequacies of the two traditional approaches to military ethics education, which have been rendered suboptimal, but also raise new challenges. The paper argues that teaching military ethics solely from the two perspective does not meet the demands of the upcoming (perhaps even already ongoing) military technological revolution and that the future will demand a more profound and conceptual moral education of military personnel that will reassess the role of martial virtues, increase responsibility for killing in war (making war more “real” and riskless killing more “difficult”) and result in military professionals that resemble “a Renaissance man” in their philosophical outlook. Only by ensuring that all military professionals (in particular high-ranking officers) have been properly and adequately ethically educated, future armies, as well as entire societies, can actively aspire toward optimal armed forces structure, a more professional and efficient approach to military profession, and ultimately better and more responsible military personnel in total.

1. Babić J. (2019) Ethics of War and Ethics in War. Conatus. Vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 9–30.

2. Cook M. (2008) Ethics Education, Ethics Training, and Character Development: Who ‘Owns’ Ethics in the US Air Force Academy? In: Robinson P., de Lee N., & Carrick D. (Eds.) Ethics Education in the Military (pp. 57–65). Hampshire: Ashgate.

3. Cook M. (2009) Teaching Military Ethics in the United States Air Force: Challenges Posed by Service Culture. In: Robinson P., Connelly J., & Carrick D. (Eds.) Ethics Education for Irregular Warfare (pp. 107–118). Hampshire: Ashgate.

4. Deakin S. (2008) Education in an Ethos at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In: Robinson P., de Lee N., & Carrick D. (Eds.) Ethics Education in the Military (pp. 15–29). Hampshire: Ashgate.

5. French S. & Jack A. (2015) Dehumanizing the Enemy: The Intersection of Neuroethics and Military Ethics. In: Whetham D. & Strawser B.J. (Eds.) Responsibility to Protect: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 169– 195). Boston: Brill-Nijhoff.

6. Kasher A. (2008) Teaching and Training Military Ethics: An Israeli Experience. In: Robinson P., de Lee N., & Carrick D. (Eds.) Ethics Education in the Military (pp. 133–145). Hampshire: Ashgate.

7. Krishnan A. (2009) Killer Robots. Hampshire: Ashgate.

8. Mental Health Advisory Team IV, Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07 (2006) Final Report. Retrieved from http://www.combatreform.org/MHAT_IV_Report_17NOV06.pdf

9. Nagel T. (1979) Mortal Questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

10. Olsthoorn P. (2009) Ethics Education for Operations Other Than War: The Dutch Approach. In: Robinson P., Connelly J., & Carrick D. (Eds.) Ethics Education for Irregular Warfare (pp. 145–158). Hampshire: Ashgate.

11. Olsthoorn P. (2011) Military Ethics and Virtues: An Interdisciplinary Approach for the 21st Century. Burlington: Routledge.

12. Orend B. (2004) Kant’s Ethics of War and Peace. Journal of Military Ethics. Vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 161–177.

13. Pellerin C. (2017) Project Maven To Deploy Computer Algorithms to War Zone By Year’s End. DOD News. Retrieved from https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1254719/project-maven-to-deploy-computeralgorithms-to-war-zone-by-years-end/

14. Sassaman N. & Layden J. (2008) Warrior King: The Triumph and Betrayal of an American Commander in Iraq. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

15. Schulte P. (2012) Morality and War. In: Lindley-French J. & Boyer Y. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of War (pp. 99–115). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

16. Shakespeare W. (1914) Henry V. New York: American Book Company.

17. Singer P.W. (2009) Wired for War. London: The Penguin Press.

18. Sparrow R. (2015) Drones, Courage, and Military Culture. In: Lucas G. (Ed.) Routledge Handbook of Military Ethics (pp. 380–395). Burlington: Routledge.

19. van Hooft S. (2006) Understanding Virtue Ethics. Slough: Acumen Publishing Limited.

20. Walzer M. (1999) Kosovo. Dissent. Vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 5–7.

21. Wertheimer R. (2010) The Morality of Military Ethics Education. In: Wertheimer R. (Ed.) Empowering Our Military Conscience: Transforming Just War Theory and Military Moral Education (pp. 159–196). Burlington: Routledge.

22. Wolfendale J. (2008) What is the Point of Teaching Military Ethics? In: Robinson P., de Lee N., & Carrick D. (Eds.) Ethics Education in the Military (pp. 161–174). Hampshire: Ashgate.