Military Ethics :
Lucas, George.
Military Ethics : What Everyone Needs to Know��. - 1 online resource (281 pages) - What Everyone Needs to Know Ser. . - What Everyone Needs to Know Ser. .
Cover -- Military��Ethics -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Why Military Ethics? -- How should we define the central terms of this book? -- Part��1 ���The Moral Foundations of the Military Profession -- 1. Ethics and the Profession of Arms -- How can we talk about ethics in war, when people are killing each other and deliberately inflicting destruction and misery on one another? -- But once we do finally decide to go to war, isn't the goal to win by whatever means required? -- Suppose we accept this hard-nosed advice:��does it matter whom we target, whom we kill, or how we kill them during combat? -- But wouldn't other soldiers who were less scrupulous or less sentimental than the Botswanans simply have fired on the children? -- Even if ethics has a place in war-fighting, what do we say about soldiers who are ordered to do horrendous things? Does military ethics apply to them? -- If there truly is a profession of arms, does this mean there are rules for that profession regarding when, and against whom, to use deadly force? -- How can we say something is ethical if it results in our own soldiers getting killed? Were there no other ethical or professional choices in these situations? -- Doesn't the resulting disagreement in this case demonstrate that there is nothing authoritative in military ethics, that it is finally just a matter of opinion? -- But aren't there other examples of unethical behavior by soldiers that demonstrate that ethics dissolve during wartime? -- 2. Military Ethics and International Law -- If, as the clich�� goes, "All's fair in love and war," then how can there be laws or rules in combat?. All of these laws seem to pertain to the conduct of soldiers, but aren't there also laws determining the behavior of their respective state governments, as to when the government can order its soldiers to fight? -- What authority, if any, do such laws have, especially when some combatants seem to ignore them without penalty? -- What sense does it make for Shakespeare's character to describe this custom or tradition among rival combatants as a violation of the law of arms? -- But what good does it do to point to a law of war when history is littered with violations of it? -- So what does this unwritten law of war have to do with the international humanitarian law, formally codified only during the 19th and 20th centuries? -- How did these so-called professional principles find their way into actual international law? -- If this is all basically prudence, ordinary intuition, and common sense, why do we need treaties and conventions? Why doesn't everyone simply do what is right? -- Still, there is always collateral damage. These casualties would not have occurred if we had not gone to war in the first place, so is it really possible to distinguish these deaths from true atrocities? -- 3. The Ancient Origins of Military Ethics -- Isn't this idea of ethics and professional conduct in war a relatively recent concept? -- Is there any contrasting historical evidence, either of genuine regret over war's misery, or of a desire to guide or limit the violent and destructive behavior of combatants in the midst of war? -- Are there other instances in the ancient world of such discussions of what might be termed ethical issues, or prudent professional military practice?. But aren't there other counterexamples from the same period, from which we see that the practice of warfare is an inescapable fact of life, and where the appeals to morality, in particular, are portrayed as wholly irrelevant to the declaration and cond -- 4. Military Ethics and the Just War Tradition -- What is the just war tradition? -- Legitimate Authority -- Just Cause -- Right Intention -- Why would the topic of war be considered appropriate for a Christian theologian to discuss in the first place? -- What gives this tradition any moral authority, especially over non-Christians? -- Isn't this talk of justified war merely a form of public relations, designed to win public support for morally and politically questionable decisions by political leaders? -- Are there other historical figures besides St. Thomas who contributed to the development of this line of thought about war? -- Are there still other figures, besides Augustine and Aquinas, whose teachings on justified war and its conduct are important for everyone to consider? -- How should we understand the relationship of this just war tradition to military professional ethics-especially when we recognize that not all combatants or military forces abide by these principles? -- What are we to do when our enemies ignore or violate these just war principles? -- 5. Military Ethics apart from Combat -- Does military ethics apply to matters other than declaring and waging war? -- What are some examples of military operations or functions that are not war? -- Are military personnel sometimes held to a higher moral standard than ordinary? -- Do members of the military have a special moral obligation to dissent and to refrain from fighting in unjust wars?. What responsibility do military personnel have to offer professional advice to the leaders of their own governments regarding the moral justification (or lack thereof) for using military force in international relations? -- Part��2 Ethical Challenges Facing the Military Profession -- 6. The Ethics of Defense and Private Security Contracting -- What is "defense and security contracting"? -- Is there a difference between defense contracting and "private military contracting"? -- Why does any military service need defense contractors? Can't military personnel themselves already do all the things that they are now hiring contractors to undertake? -- If this all works so well, what is the problem with increasing reliance on military contracting? -- Aren't armed private security contractors simply mercenaries? -- What is the principal ethical difficulty with employing private military security contractors? -- Is there, nonetheless, a legitimate role for armed private security contractors to play in armed conflict? -- 7. Military Interventions for Humanitarian Relief -- What is "humanitarian military intervention"? -- It would seem that any war that is not strictly defensive could be construed as a humanitarian intervention. Would Vietnam count? Would World War II count? -- Calls for humanitarian intervention appear in the news regularly nowadays. Why has humanitarian intervention come to play such a dominant role in recent international relations? -- Who is responsible for intervening when a humanitarian crisis threatens? -- What is the "responsibility to protect"? -- Can we justifiably require members of a nation's self-defense force to serve in HI? -- Might we avoid these problems by instead hiring and paying armed private security contractors to undertake these missions, rather than continuing to rely on national military forces?. 8. Military Ethics and Unmanned Systems -- What are "unmanned systems"? -- What are the ethical issues involving military uses of robotics? -- What moral or legal problems are likely to arise from using unmanned aerial systems (drones) to attack and kill enemy combatants? -- Have such arguments convinced concerned critics that drones are nothing to worry about? -- Is it unfair for one side in a military conflict to possess the seemingly vast and asymmetrical technological advantages over its enemies and adversaries that military robotics provides? -- Shouldn't we worry, though, about attempts to develop a killer robot that is fully autonomous and lethally armed? -- What moral challenges, finally, does the advent of military robotics present for ethics in the military profession? -- 9. Military Ethics and Cyber Warfare -- We hear people referring to "cyberspace" all the time, but what exactly is it? -- How do we come to be mired in this confusion, uncertainty, and vulnerability with regard to this cyber domain? -- What are some of the most important ethical challenges that arise with our growing public presence in cyberspace? -- Is government surveillance and "big data" collection in cyberspace really a threat to each individual's privacy and freedom of expression? -- We also hear a great deal these days concerning the threat of cyberwarfare. What is this, and to what extent is there a genuine threat of it happening? -- But are these scenarios of cyberwarfare really plausible? -- Does it make any sense to talk about ethics in this kind of unrestricted cyber conflict, even if it is not technically war? -- Can international law (such as the law of armed conflict) really be made to apply within the cyber domain? -- Then how about traditional just war theory:��can this offer principles of guidance for cyberwarfare?. Given these criteria for cyber conflict, how do we assess the attack on Estonia?.
A comprehensive and case-driven account of the core ethical principles of the "Profession of Arms," together with a description of the rigorous ethical demands and moral dilemmas these principles impose upon individuals, both in and beyond combat. A thorough but readable, engaging account addressed both to military personnel and the wider public.
Available electronically via the Internet.
9780199336906
Military ethics.
Electronic books.
174.9355
Military Ethics : What Everyone Needs to Know��. - 1 online resource (281 pages) - What Everyone Needs to Know Ser. . - What Everyone Needs to Know Ser. .
Cover -- Military��Ethics -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Why Military Ethics? -- How should we define the central terms of this book? -- Part��1 ���The Moral Foundations of the Military Profession -- 1. Ethics and the Profession of Arms -- How can we talk about ethics in war, when people are killing each other and deliberately inflicting destruction and misery on one another? -- But once we do finally decide to go to war, isn't the goal to win by whatever means required? -- Suppose we accept this hard-nosed advice:��does it matter whom we target, whom we kill, or how we kill them during combat? -- But wouldn't other soldiers who were less scrupulous or less sentimental than the Botswanans simply have fired on the children? -- Even if ethics has a place in war-fighting, what do we say about soldiers who are ordered to do horrendous things? Does military ethics apply to them? -- If there truly is a profession of arms, does this mean there are rules for that profession regarding when, and against whom, to use deadly force? -- How can we say something is ethical if it results in our own soldiers getting killed? Were there no other ethical or professional choices in these situations? -- Doesn't the resulting disagreement in this case demonstrate that there is nothing authoritative in military ethics, that it is finally just a matter of opinion? -- But aren't there other examples of unethical behavior by soldiers that demonstrate that ethics dissolve during wartime? -- 2. Military Ethics and International Law -- If, as the clich�� goes, "All's fair in love and war," then how can there be laws or rules in combat?. All of these laws seem to pertain to the conduct of soldiers, but aren't there also laws determining the behavior of their respective state governments, as to when the government can order its soldiers to fight? -- What authority, if any, do such laws have, especially when some combatants seem to ignore them without penalty? -- What sense does it make for Shakespeare's character to describe this custom or tradition among rival combatants as a violation of the law of arms? -- But what good does it do to point to a law of war when history is littered with violations of it? -- So what does this unwritten law of war have to do with the international humanitarian law, formally codified only during the 19th and 20th centuries? -- How did these so-called professional principles find their way into actual international law? -- If this is all basically prudence, ordinary intuition, and common sense, why do we need treaties and conventions? Why doesn't everyone simply do what is right? -- Still, there is always collateral damage. These casualties would not have occurred if we had not gone to war in the first place, so is it really possible to distinguish these deaths from true atrocities? -- 3. The Ancient Origins of Military Ethics -- Isn't this idea of ethics and professional conduct in war a relatively recent concept? -- Is there any contrasting historical evidence, either of genuine regret over war's misery, or of a desire to guide or limit the violent and destructive behavior of combatants in the midst of war? -- Are there other instances in the ancient world of such discussions of what might be termed ethical issues, or prudent professional military practice?. But aren't there other counterexamples from the same period, from which we see that the practice of warfare is an inescapable fact of life, and where the appeals to morality, in particular, are portrayed as wholly irrelevant to the declaration and cond -- 4. Military Ethics and the Just War Tradition -- What is the just war tradition? -- Legitimate Authority -- Just Cause -- Right Intention -- Why would the topic of war be considered appropriate for a Christian theologian to discuss in the first place? -- What gives this tradition any moral authority, especially over non-Christians? -- Isn't this talk of justified war merely a form of public relations, designed to win public support for morally and politically questionable decisions by political leaders? -- Are there other historical figures besides St. Thomas who contributed to the development of this line of thought about war? -- Are there still other figures, besides Augustine and Aquinas, whose teachings on justified war and its conduct are important for everyone to consider? -- How should we understand the relationship of this just war tradition to military professional ethics-especially when we recognize that not all combatants or military forces abide by these principles? -- What are we to do when our enemies ignore or violate these just war principles? -- 5. Military Ethics apart from Combat -- Does military ethics apply to matters other than declaring and waging war? -- What are some examples of military operations or functions that are not war? -- Are military personnel sometimes held to a higher moral standard than ordinary? -- Do members of the military have a special moral obligation to dissent and to refrain from fighting in unjust wars?. What responsibility do military personnel have to offer professional advice to the leaders of their own governments regarding the moral justification (or lack thereof) for using military force in international relations? -- Part��2 Ethical Challenges Facing the Military Profession -- 6. The Ethics of Defense and Private Security Contracting -- What is "defense and security contracting"? -- Is there a difference between defense contracting and "private military contracting"? -- Why does any military service need defense contractors? Can't military personnel themselves already do all the things that they are now hiring contractors to undertake? -- If this all works so well, what is the problem with increasing reliance on military contracting? -- Aren't armed private security contractors simply mercenaries? -- What is the principal ethical difficulty with employing private military security contractors? -- Is there, nonetheless, a legitimate role for armed private security contractors to play in armed conflict? -- 7. Military Interventions for Humanitarian Relief -- What is "humanitarian military intervention"? -- It would seem that any war that is not strictly defensive could be construed as a humanitarian intervention. Would Vietnam count? Would World War II count? -- Calls for humanitarian intervention appear in the news regularly nowadays. Why has humanitarian intervention come to play such a dominant role in recent international relations? -- Who is responsible for intervening when a humanitarian crisis threatens? -- What is the "responsibility to protect"? -- Can we justifiably require members of a nation's self-defense force to serve in HI? -- Might we avoid these problems by instead hiring and paying armed private security contractors to undertake these missions, rather than continuing to rely on national military forces?. 8. Military Ethics and Unmanned Systems -- What are "unmanned systems"? -- What are the ethical issues involving military uses of robotics? -- What moral or legal problems are likely to arise from using unmanned aerial systems (drones) to attack and kill enemy combatants? -- Have such arguments convinced concerned critics that drones are nothing to worry about? -- Is it unfair for one side in a military conflict to possess the seemingly vast and asymmetrical technological advantages over its enemies and adversaries that military robotics provides? -- Shouldn't we worry, though, about attempts to develop a killer robot that is fully autonomous and lethally armed? -- What moral challenges, finally, does the advent of military robotics present for ethics in the military profession? -- 9. Military Ethics and Cyber Warfare -- We hear people referring to "cyberspace" all the time, but what exactly is it? -- How do we come to be mired in this confusion, uncertainty, and vulnerability with regard to this cyber domain? -- What are some of the most important ethical challenges that arise with our growing public presence in cyberspace? -- Is government surveillance and "big data" collection in cyberspace really a threat to each individual's privacy and freedom of expression? -- We also hear a great deal these days concerning the threat of cyberwarfare. What is this, and to what extent is there a genuine threat of it happening? -- But are these scenarios of cyberwarfare really plausible? -- Does it make any sense to talk about ethics in this kind of unrestricted cyber conflict, even if it is not technically war? -- Can international law (such as the law of armed conflict) really be made to apply within the cyber domain? -- Then how about traditional just war theory:��can this offer principles of guidance for cyberwarfare?. Given these criteria for cyber conflict, how do we assess the attack on Estonia?.
A comprehensive and case-driven account of the core ethical principles of the "Profession of Arms," together with a description of the rigorous ethical demands and moral dilemmas these principles impose upon individuals, both in and beyond combat. A thorough but readable, engaging account addressed both to military personnel and the wider public.
Available electronically via the Internet.
9780199336906
Military ethics.
Electronic books.
174.9355