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Military Ethics in Religious and Philosophical Perspectives

Module description

What ethical approaches are adequate in the face of the changing threat environment? This module invites you to explore this and other related questions: What contribution should diverse religious and philosophical ethics make to contemporary debate about emerging technologies in weaponry (notably cyber and AI enabled autonomous systems), as hybrid threats are challenging security environments, as neuro-technological approaches to human augmentation are being used to protect and enhance cognitive and physiological performance by military personnel, as outer space is being exploited for defence and security, and more? What is required to engage constructively today in peace-making and to address the moral and spiritual challenges posed by warfare and armed conflict?

Debate extends to every citizen of representative democracies with professional militaries. Whatever your faith perspective or philosophical persuasion, you are welcome to join.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• provide an introduction to military ethics (its sources, approaches, difficult questions, and ways forward) before treating each in both religious (predominantly but not exclusively Christian) and selected philosophical perspectives;
• in so doing, offer an introduction to classic theological and philosophical traditions of just war reasoning, and new applications and challenges to established modes of ethical and moral reasoning;
• investigate some of the most pressing challenges in military ethics today, including definitions of ‘war’, the changing character of warfare, when cyber attacks count as warfare, the ethical challenges for military ethics posed by complex counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism action; the relevance of just war traditions for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism; military ethics in an age of unmanned weapons, and more;
• test the thesis that an especially important question for contemporary military ethics today is not whether it is necessary to engage constructively with just war traditions of reasoning, but how to do so.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Give an historically-informed account of ‘just war’ traditions of reasoning
• 2. Engage theologically and otherwise with questions about when and why war is justified; how, morally speaking, wars should be fought; how technological advances, insurgency and terrorism are presenting new challenges to military ethics
• 3. Analyse and evaluate the arguments of a range of significant theorists in the field

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Attend to, reproduce accurately, and reflect on the ideas and arguments of a major theologians and other theorists with fairness and integrity, and express, as appropriate, your own views about military ethics today
• 5. Work creatively in applying knowledge, understanding and skills to new problems

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Communicate effectively with peers and members of the teaching staff in oral form
• 7. Exercise substantial autonomy in the management of your own learning
• 8. Exercise judgement based on awareness of key issues in the area
• 9. Demonstrate meaningful and consistent participation in the module, including teamwork.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Justifications for the resort to military force (jus ad bellum), with particular reference to ‘just war’ tradition(s)
• What may justifiably be done in the use of such force (jus in bello)?
• The (un)changing character of ‘war’
• Technology and War (AI, Cyber, Enhancement)
• Moral Injury in War
• Military chaplaincy / civil religion?

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Use the Journal of Military Ethics to keep up to date with key issues and debates
• Oliver O'Donovan, The Just War Revisited (Cambridge: CUP, 2003)
• John XIII, Pacem in Terris (1963); John Paul II, Centesimus Annus (1991) and many annual letters on the World Day of Peace; Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (2009)
• Julian Rosemary Kellison, Expanding Responsibility for the Just War: A Feminist Critique (Cambridge: CUP, 2019)
•  Lindley-French and Yves Boyer, Eds, The Oxford Handbook of War (Oxford: OUP, 2012)
• George Lucas, Ethics and Cyber Warfare: The Quest for Responsible Security in the Age of Digital Warfare (Oxford: OUP, 2017)
• George Lucas, Military Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know (OUP, 2016)
• Gregory M. Reichberg, Religion, War, and Ethics: A Sourcebook of Textual Traditions (Cambridge: CUP, 2014)
• James Turner Johnson and Eric D. Patterson, Eds., The Ashgate Research Companion to Military Ethics (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• The King’s College London Centre for Military Ethics has a very useful website. Please refer to it frequently: http://militaryethics.uk/en/
• See also the World Council of Churches website on Promoting Just Peace https://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/promoting-just-peace and of course, the many Vatican website pages devoted to this topic
• New Advent primary texts from Patristic figures and Thomas Aquinas: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers
• ELE – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages

Key words search

Military ethics, just war, peace, cyber attacks, autonomy, chaplaincy, philosophy