AskPhilosophers Questions

I've been having a moral conflict about whether I should serve in the military

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 18:57:41 +0000

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Read another response by Allen Stairs

I've been having a moral conflict about whether I should serve in the military or not and I came to the conclusion that it would be immoral for me to serve. But then I thought to myself, if I think it's immoral to serve I'm basically saying that anyone with the choice to not serve shouldn't serve, and if everyone who has the choice to not serve does that the military will collapse and since the country has no defenses a war will likely ensue that would cause many more deaths than if people had served. So does that falsify my claim that it is immoral to serve in the military?

In war memoirs, there is sometimes talk about a feeling of invulnerability among

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 18:19:16 +0000

Knowledge

War

Death

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In war memoirs, there is sometimes talk about a feeling of invulnerability among soldiers new to combat: it never occurs to many people that they themselves might be killed. But then something punctures the feeling: it might be that a friend dies, or it might be the sheer quantity or awfulness of death, but at that point the recruit "sees the elephant" and gains a sense of their own mortality. Well, if someone "sees the elephant", how would philosophers characterise the change in epistemological status? For instance, would it be fair to say that the person has gained new knowledge, ie now knows that they're mortal, whereas they didn't know this before? Or is just a case of probability weightings of possible outcomes having changed in the light of new data?

We laud veterans for having "fought for their country" regardless of what the

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:46:52 +0000

War

Value

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Read another response by Michael Cholbi

We laud veterans for having "fought for their country" regardless of what the fight may have actually accomplished. For example, many people who regard the Vietnam War as a failure--or worse, a moral atrocity--still hold Vietnam vets in high regard. It strikes me that reverence for veterans rarely considers whether their actions actually made any of their countrymen better off (never mind people in other countries). We have a notion of honorable military service that is tenable only insofar as it abstracts away the actual practical outcomes of warfare. When we praise a veteran, what exactly are we praising them for?

In America, many people join the military as a means to socio-economic

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 16:48:36 +0000

War

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In America, many people join the military as a means to socio-economic advancement (e.g. in order to pay for college). Is this ethically defensible? Is there any difference between someone who enlists for career advancement and a mercenary?

Does philosophy have anything interesting to say about the problem of terrorism?

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 08:43:41 +0000

Justice

War

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Does philosophy have anything interesting to say about the problem of terrorism?

Excluding people drafted, isn't a soldiers life less important than a civilians.

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 08:32:15 +0000

War

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Excluding people drafted, isn't a soldiers life less important than a civilians. Otherwise what is the point of protecting them. A good mother would give her life to protect her child because the child's life holds more value right? Or am I misunderstanding why one sacrifices ones self.also if a person joins the military but isn't willing to go through whatever (torture, death etc..)is required doesn't that make them cowards or even something worse.

The artists, writers and poets who witnessed World War I aside, why is there

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 04:45:07 +0000

War

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The artists, writers and poets who witnessed World War I aside, why is there such an aversion to chemical weapons? Don't 'conventional' weapons kill people just as dead? Are chemical weapons more inherently immoral than conventional weapons?

Commentators on the Holocaust often refer to the oft cited justification "just

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 16:38:16 +0000

War

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Read another response by Oliver Leaman

Commentators on the Holocaust often refer to the oft cited justification "just following orders" as a paltry excuse. But given that "just following orders" can often mean that a person must choose to follow orders or face legal consequences or death isn't that a pretty good excuse? We generally don't judge a person who is acting under duress in the same way as someone who isn't. Maybe when commentators reference this phrase they are only citing the most egregious cases where it was used, but I can't help but feel that these commentators are glossing over the moral complexity involved in cases where a person is said to be "following orders".

If a State A attacks another State B's military apparatus knowing full well that

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:46:29 +0000

War

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If a State A attacks another State B's military apparatus knowing full well that there will be civilian collateral damage, then why is it that even if State B retaliates by intentionally targeting civilians, it's terrorism?

My concerns about the disproportionate civilian casualties in the Israeli-Gaza

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 16:12:05 +0000

War

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Read another response by Oliver Leaman

My concerns about the disproportionate civilian casualties in the Israeli-Gaza have fallen on deaf ears among my friends. "There's no moral equivalence between the two sides," they respond. "If Israel has to kill innocent civilians to get at Hamas attackers, sobeit." Their argument seems to be that Hamas is much more "evil" an entity than a self-defending Israel, but I am not certain that Israel did enough to mitigate those civilian casualties. That "moral equivalence" argument seems like a rhetorical hand-grenade that makes actual discussion impossible. Am I being soft-hearted or soft-headed when I question the morality of Israel's response to Hamas'attack? Please, if you can, point me toward sources who have addressed this question. Thanks so much. Scott F. W.