Squaring the circle: Teaching philosophical ethics in the military

Abstract

Abstract It is hard to overstate the importance that the military places on teaching its soldiers to be leaders of character. Indeed, the military has developed a sophisticated Aristotelian understanding of what it means to be a leader of character, an understanding in which the virtues of a soldier are defined by the practice of fighting wars successfully. Putting that theoretical model to work—that is, developing soldiers who possess the right virtues—requires Socratic dialogue between instructors and students. Unfortunately, the theory of Socratic dialogue often clashes with the practice of military institutions as trainers of soldiers. The belief that one must train soldiers to be virtuous can and often does result in an atmosphere in which instructors present the dictates of morality as revealed truth, an atmosphere which leads to knee-jerk moral certainty and which actively discourages open discussion of ethics. Putting theory into practice, then, requires that an institution reject the training mentality in favor of Socratic inquiry. The author suggests two strategies for achieving that goal: giving philosophers a greater role in designing ethics curriculum and incorporating civilian academics into military institutions more effectively. Keywords: AristotleMilitary Academypedagogyprofessional ethicvirtue Acknowledgments This paper has benefited enormously from the comments of several people. I am grateful to Steve Johnson, Tony McGowan, and Daisy Miller as well as the participants at the 2002 Utopian Studies Conference for their comments on an earlier version of the paper. I am also indebted to several of my former colleagues and many of my students at the United States Military Academy for the numerous discussions that gave rise to this essay. Finally, and not least, the paper has been significantly improved thanks to the comments of Carl Ficarrotta and three anonymous reviewers at Journal of Military Ethics.