Ethical Dilemmas the Objective of This Study

¶ … Ethical Dilemmas

The objective of this study is to review the work entitled "What Should We Mean 'Military Ethics?" And the work entitled "Strengthening Moral Competence: A Train the Trainer Course on Military Ethics."

Cook and Syse (2010)

The work of Cook and Syse (2010) entitled "What Should We Mean by Military Ethics?"states that when it comes to military ethics that there is a "great diversity of activities normally gathered under that rubric." (p.119) Military ethics is reported to be a "species of the genus 'professional ethics'. (Cook & Syse, 2010, p. 119) In other words, ethics is a service to professionals who are not actually ethics specialists but "who have to carry out the tasks entrusted to the profession as honorably and correctly as possible." (Cook & Syse, 2010, p.119) While philosophy on military ethics may be developed quite logically and be clear in conceptual terms and even debated rigorously, this is not what is meant by military ethics. While such writings are published in the journal it is reported that critical assessment of LOAC is "a fundamental components of military ethics but there is a body of law that governs such ethics. Professionals need a sufficient knowledge of the laws that govern military ethics.

II. Wortel and Bosch (2010)

The work of Wortel and Bosch (2011) states that one of the primary aims of education relating to military ethics is strengthening of moral competence. Military personnel are noted to encounter moral dilemmas quite often during their deployment and in the homework environment. Moral dilemmas are defined as "situations where conflicts arise between two or more values." (Wortel and Bosch, 2011) Coping with moral dilemmas make a requirement of moral competence "that will have methodological consequences in practice."(Wortel and Bosch, 2010) Moral competence is reported to be defined as:

"the ability and willingness to carry out tasks adequately and carefully, with due regard for all of the affected interests, based on a reasonable analysis of the relevant facts. A competence is an interplay of attitude, knowledge, and skills. (Wortel and Bosch, 2011)

Schooling and education are distinguished between in that schooling is not the same as education since education is "the mastery and internalization of the knowledge" gained in schooling. Moral competence is reported to be broken down into five elements by Karssing (2000) and as adapted by Verweij (2005) However the debate on moral competence results in six elements being stated including the following:

(1) becoming aware of one's personal value and the values of the military organization;

(2) being able to identify the moral dimension of a situation and the values that are at risk of infringement or violation;

(3) being able to make a judgment concerning a moral question or dilemma;

(4) being able to communicate that judgment;

(5) being willing and able to act on the basis of that judgment in a morally responsible way; and (6) being willing and able to account for that judgment and action to oneself and others. (Wortel and Bosch, 2011)

The beginning of moral competence is the acknowledgement of the moral dimension in a situation and the awareness of the values that are at risk. (Wortel and Bosch, 2011, paraphrased) The examination of the values of the individual is the starting point for ethics education. The individual has to identify their own values before they are able to identify the values of the organization or the values of others. Military virtues are required before a code of ethics can be formulated. Gabriel (2007) is noted as having stated:

"a code of ethics is. . . meaningless for a soldiery that did not possess some military virtues. . . A code of military ethics and the education and training of the soldier in the military go together in producing an ethical soldier." (Gabriel, 2007, p. 159 cited in: Wortel and Bosch, 2011)