VIRTUE

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VIRTUE

• MIDN 1/C Smetana
• MIDN 1/C Stanton

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VIRTUE

• Bravery to endure and bear up against evil and
  danger, as well as to go forth and face them.
• The brave man us not he who feels no fear, but
  he whose noble mind its fear subdues.
• Admiral Karl Claussen, German Navy

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Moral Virtues
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• What is a virtue?
• Aristotle defines a virtue as a capacity that
  enable a thing or being to function well.
• For Aristotle, functioning well is exercising our
  capacity to reason in accordance with virtue.
• In essence, reason allows human beings to direct
  a course between two extremes
• Aristotles system is one of means, excesses, and
  deficiencies

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(No Transcript)
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Why be virtuous?

• Virtue will lead to happiness because it is an
  exercise of reason
• The function of man is a certain form of life,
  namely an activity of the soul exercised in
  combination with a rational principle or
  reasonable ground of action. The function of a
  good man is to exert such activity well.

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Aristotles Caution

• Though virtue observes the mean in actions and
  passions, this is not true for all acts and
  feelings
• Some acts are inherently evil (adultery, theft,
  murder, etc.).
• Goodness is one, evil is multiform
• Its tough to hit the mark!

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How do we become virtuous?

• The true determinant of the mean is not the
  geometers rod, but the guiding principle in the
  good mans soul.
• Thus a brave man appears rash when set beside a
  coward, and cowardly when set beside a rash man.
• Aristotle gives the following guiding principles
• Keep away from the extreme which is more opposed
  to the mean. (One extreme is always more
  dangerous than the other)
• Note errors into which we personally are most
  liable to fall
• Always be particularly on your guard against
  pleasure and pleasant things

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Habit and Virtue
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Virtue comes about, not by a process of nature,
but by habituation

• Humans are not virtuous by nature, but possess
  the capacity for virtue
• We become virtuous by performing virtuous acts
  repeatedly until such acts become second nature

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What is the right sort of habituation?

• The right sort of habituation must avoid excess
  and deficiency
• The anorexic who habituates him/herself to eating
  can be prone to gluttony

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Virtues concern with pleasure and pain

• Action is not merely enough a persons pleasure
  or pain in consequence of action must be taken
  into account (Kant?)
• The just and temperate person is not the one who
  merely does these actions, but the one who also
  does them in the way in which just or temperate
  people do them.

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Nicomachean Ethics
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Courage

• Courage is concerned with the feelings of fear
  and confidence (i.e. death in battle).
• The motive of courage is the sense of honor.
• Courage is a mean with respect to things that
  inspire confidence or fear (mean balance).
• Five kinds of courage improperly so called
• .Courage vs. Applied Compulsion (citizen-soldier)
• .Experience (the professional soldier)
• .Passion (anger, etc.)
• .Sanguinity (I can suffer nothing beer muscles)
• .Ignorance (situationally unaware)

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Friendship

• Friends are a necessary part of life (a virtue).
• To be friends, then, they individuals must be
  mutually recognized as bearing goodwill and
  wishing well to each other. (i.e. you have to
  know your friends)
• Three kinds of friendship
• .Utility (good for themselves)
• .Pleasure (pleasant to themselves)
• .Friendship by reason of nature (alike in virtue)
• The first two types of friendship dissolve
  easily, whereas the third is enduring
• The man who is happy will need virtuous friends

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The Fabric of Character
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What is character?

• Nancy Sherman says character has to do with a
  persons traits that is with attitudes,
  sensibilities, and beliefs that affect how a
  person sees, acts, and indeed lives.
• Explains the present actions of individuals and
  what actions they can be counted on to do
  (accountability and pattern to action).
• To act rightly is to act rightly in effect and
  conduct. It is to be emotionally engaged, and
  not merely to have the affect as accompaniment or
  instrument.
• An action motivated by the right principle but
  lacking in the right gesture or feeling falls
  short of the mean.

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Archilles in Vietnam
Jonathan Shay M.D.
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Jonathan Shay

• Psychiatrist working with Vietnam Veterans who
  suffered from PTSD
• Discovered similarities in Veterans war
  experiences and Homers account of Archilles in
  the Iliad
• Knowledge could flow both ways Scholars could
  better understand the Iliad from listening to
  veterans Psychiatrist better understand veterans
  from reading it

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Homer in Iliad

• What are the two aspects that homer emphasized in
  Iliad common in heavy and continuous fighting?

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Homer in Iliad (cont)

• Betrayal of whats right by a commander
• Onset of the Berserk State

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PTSD

• Loss of Memory and Trust
• Explosive Violence
• Flash-backs
• Alcohol and Drug Abuse
• Suicidal
• Isolation

• Sit in corner of restaurant
• Choked daughter
• Hit the deck at work
• Drink to sleep
• Didnt car if he lived
• Leave family for weeks at a time

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Grief at the Death of a Special Comrade
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Soldiers Love

• War brings special bond between comrades
• Extreme Loyalty between soldiers
• Evident in relationship between Achilles and
  Patroklos
• Misunderstood by the General Public
• Many Veterans hide this compassion
• Consider themselves dead after friend dies

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Grief and the Warriors Rage
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Communalization of Grief

• Arises from unit cohesion
• In Vietnam Duty ends, sent home
• Soldiers did not have opportunity to talk about
  trauma, and express emotions
• May lead to more prolonged and serious emotional
  consequences

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GriefVietnam Iliad

• Truces for funerals and mourning
• Tears acceptable for mourning friend
• Restorative period of grief, Friends mourned over
  body and prepared for burial

• Rare truces, Used dead as booby traps
• Tears sign of weakness
• Strangers prepared body for return

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Importance of Grief

• Military that sends soldiers to battle and tells
  them that love and grief do not matter should
  not be shocked by their inhumanity when they
  return to civilian life

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The EE Cheating Case at USNA

• Jeffery Gantor, Michael ODonnell,
• and Tom Patton

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Summary

• Test stolen given to numerous students convinced
  that it was a gouge test.
• Cover-up begins, Mids remain silent protect
  classmates
• NDIC charge a few individuals, not directly
  responsible for and a few are kicked out
• Superintendent covers-up football players
  involvement

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Why?

• Did the Academy atmosphere support or cause this
  behavior?
• Where was the loyalty of the Mids? The
  Superintendent?
• How should this have been handled?

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Reading Assignment

• Fundamentals of Naval Leadership
• Lesson 9
• Naval Leadership Voices of Experience
• The Components of Integrity