Dark Traits and Military Ethics
David Whetham
Some people argue that war is such a terrible thing, atrocities and war crimes are simply an inevitable consequence. While those people might be right on the tragedy that is war, thankfully, the assumption that atrocities committed by our own forces simply have to be accepted is not shared by either Western society or the professional military organisations that serve them. While the elimination of all bad behaviour may be unattainable, the aspiration of working towards it is recognised as being both important and capable of significant success. There is a clear linkage between ethical behaviour within armed forces and their conduct on operations and we know that ethics training can have a positive effect on behaviour on military deployments, reducing harm and suffering in conflict situations.
Military organisations around the world tend to focus on the importance of character development using a virtue ethics model that would have been very familiar to Aristotle to try and ensure that people will be able to do the right thing even on a difficult day. As well as character development, part of professional military education is about equipping military personnel with the analytical skills and moral reasoning to be able to make the best decisions possible, even in situations where there is no ‘good’ answer.
https://defenceindepth.co/2019/11/15/dark-traits-and-military-ethics/
