Professional Ethics and the Military

Abstract

Having established the criteria of a profession and clarified the concept of the regulative ideal of a profession and the associated professional virtues, we are now in a position to apply these concepts to the military. By claiming to be a profession, the military claims special moral permission to perform acts of extreme violence and destruction. Unlike most professionals, military personnel are permitted to kill, to destroy the infrastructure of enemy states, and to endanger the lives of military personnel under their command. If it is a profession, then the military warrants greater moral scrutiny and military personnel can be expected to meet high moral standards. Professional status brings with it special moral permissions but also imposes moral constraints: professionals must guide their actions by the regulative ideal of their profession, and they must respect important broad-based moral standards. Professional special moral permissions to violate ordinary moral standards or to weigh moral values differently within the professional context are only justified if the profession genuinely serves an important human need, and only if the special permissions are necessary to serve that need. Given that the military claims special permissions of a very serious nature, we certainly want it to be a profession governed by high professional standards and professional responsibilities. Without such status the military would be no better than a mercenary army. Is the modern military a legitimate profession?

‘… a true member of the military profession must also be a humanist’.¹