The Western Ethical Tradition and the Morality of the Warrior

Armed Forces and Society

Volumn 26, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 55-72

  Watson, Bradley C S ^a  

^a SAINT VINCENT COLLEGE   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0040322888     PISSN: 0095327X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X9902600104     Document Type: Article

References (34)

1. Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: The Free Press, 1992), esp. 162-234.
2. See, for example, Plato, Republic, 440a-b.
3. James Toner, The American Military Ethic: A Meditation (New York: Praeger, 1992), 202.
4. Ibid., 225.
5. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Martin Ostwald (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 1123b.
6. Aristotle of course speaks of the high-minded man. However, the virtues and characteristics he sets out as the complete and necessary features of the magnanimous man might equally be found in women, except, perhaps, "a deep voice" (1125a).
7. Ibid., 1123b.
8. Ibid., 1124a.
9. St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, in The Political Writings of St. Augustine, ed. Henry Paolucci (Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway, 1962), 163-164.
10. St. Augustine, "Letters," in Paolucci, The Political Writings, 180-181.
11. Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., "Introduction," in Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. and int. Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), vii.
12. Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. 6.
13. Samuel P. Huntington, The Soldier and The State (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1957), 79.
14. Machiavelli, The Prince, 37-38.
15. Ibid., 29.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid., 30.
18. Ibid. , 61.
19. Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 88.
20. Although Kant is not simply of interest to pacifists, of course. Joseph Gerard Brennan, in his book based on the renowned course he taught at the U.S. Naval War College with Admiral James Stockdale, points out that Kant has always held special interest for the military. It is Kant's emphasis on acting for the sake of duty alone that reflects a necessary element of the warrior morality. See Brennan, Foundations of Moral Obligation (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1994), ch. 5.
21. See, for example, Stanley Hauerwas, 'Pacifism: Some Philosophical Considerations,' in War, Morality, and the Military Profession, 2nd ed., ed. Malham M. Wakin (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986), 277-283.
22. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist, in The Portable Nietzsche, trans. and ed. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Penguin Books, 1968), section 11, 577.
23. Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche, 159.
24. Being self-conscious on matters philosophical seems in itself to have utility for the warrior. See James Bond Stockdale, "The World of Epictetus: Reflections on Survival and Leadership," in Wakin, War, Morality, and the Military Profession, 10-22.
25. David Donovan, Once a Warrior King: Memoirs of An Officer in Vietnam (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985).
26. Ibid., 133-134.
27. Ibid., 153.
28. Ibid., 81.
29. Toner, The American Military Ethic.
30. See Malham M. Wakin, "The Ethics of Leadership I" and "The Ethics of Leadership II" in Wakin, War, Morality, and the Military Profession, 181-216.
31. Wakin, "The Ethics of Leadership I," 195-196.
32. Ibid., 186-187. The military college at which I teach has an identical honor code. As a former member of the college's Academic Integrity Committee - which acts as judge and jury in cases of alleged violations of standards of academic honesty - I can attest to the fact that, with respect to cheating at least, exhortations and threats of punishment are never completely effective. This raises the question of what else can be done, in terms of formal education, to inculcate in young officers the value of absolute integrity. One would hope it is still possible to appeal to such individuals on the basis of something more than crass utilitarian arguments (i.e., if you do this, then the consequences to you will be as follows. . . .).
33. Wakin, "The Ethics of Leadership I," 197.
34. One might ask in what manner the military could emphasize the distinction between loyalty and blind loyalty in a way that would add to, rather than subtract from, an essential attribute of the military ethic. In a democracy, enlisted personnel are unlikely to be blindly loyal to anything, at least initially. Habituation will most likely be needed for the purpose of instilling basic loyalty.