Tag Archives: situation ethics

The USAFA Paradox: Teaching Ethics without Morality

The US Air Force Academy published an article featuring cadets attending a seminar on “ethical dilemmas.”

Eight special operations captains from Kirtland and Cannon Air Force Bases, Academy active-duty Airmen and Air Force retirees shared ethical dilemmas that have occurred in their personal and professional lives with about 70 cadets, to engage in reflective conversation, focus on character and leadership, identify pressure that make ethical action challenging and how to improve them.

While the class was certainly long-scheduled, the timing of the public affairs piece is probably not coincidental, given the recent focus on ethics — more accurately, ethical failures — in the US military.

The cadets were introduced to the USAFA Center for Character Development’s ARDA model for decision-making: Awareness, Reasoning, Decision and Action. They then rotated through tables where they interacted with active duty officers who spoke to them about ethical dilemmas they had experienced.

The program certainly gained much credibility in Read more

US Marines Conduct Ethics Stand Down

The Marine Corps has been emphasizing ethics as part of General James Amos’ intent to reach “every single Marine” on the topic of ethical conduct.  In one case, at least, the sessions seem to be versions of college philosophy classes, with a drill down on each of the standard ethical “examples” used in most ethics courses:

Bardorf and Rowan guided the Marines through the murder of Kitty Genovese. They discussed the Good Samaritan Experiment held by the Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Stanford Read more

The Need for Moral Leadership

After the recent articles on moral courage, Chaplain (LT) Paul Hyder writes on the “need for moral leadership.”  Highlighting Abu Ghraib and the recent allegations of a US Army ‘hit squad,’ Hyder makes what seems to be an obvious recommendation:

When we, as a nation entrust men and women with the authority to use deadly force, they MUST be morally grounded and ethically above reproach. (emphasis original)

It is vital that our military leaders at every level (NCOs, SNCOs and officers alike) be rooted and grounded in moral leadership principles. When this is not the case and the moral compass is not calibrated, the slippery slope of immoral behavior can easily erode from ‘‘cutting a few corners” to cold blooded murder.

The question, of course, is how does the military “teach” morality?  How does Read more