Leadership

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Leadership Ethics Lesson 2

• Why Study Ethics?
• Intro to Moral Reasoning

People do wrong because they have not the
knowledge to do right.- Socrates
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Todays AssignmentIntro to Moral Reasoning
Objectives from reading Recognize factors that
make ethics hard Understand the pervasiveness of
the psychological motivation of self
interest. Questions to answer On the Eve of
Battle Why did Col give this pre-battle
speech? Ring of Gyges What would most people do
with the ring? Why? Why Ethics is so Hard What
are the factors the author identifies that make
ethical decision making hard? Compare article to
Selective Unmasking Boat People case
study What factors were common?

• Reading Assignment
• EMP (34 pages)
• Why Study Ethics? (Lucas), pp. 3-7 On the Eve of
  Battle (Lucas), pp. 9-11 Ring of Gyges (Plato),
  pp. 13-14 Why Ethics is So Hard (Grassey), pp.
  15-19 A Higher Moral Standard for the Military
  (Ficarrotta), pp. 33-43 The American
  Profesional Military Ethic (Hartle), pp. 63-70.
• CSME (6 pages)
• Introduction (Rubel), pp. xv-xvii Rescuing the
  Boat People (Rubel), pp. 13-15.
• HANDOUT
• USS San Jacinto Press Release

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Why Study Ethics???
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Why Study Ethics?Its going to be your job

• Exemplary Conduct Statute
• All Commanding Officers and others in authority
  in the Naval Service are required to show
  themselves a good example of Virtue, Honor,
  Patriotism and Subordination to be vigilant in
  inspecting the conduct of all persons who are
  placed under their Command to guard against and
  suppress all dissolute and immoral practices, and
  to correct, according to the laws and regulations
  of the Navy all persons who are guilty of them
  and to make all necessary and proper measures
  under the laws, regulations and customs of the
  Naval Services, to promote and safeguard the
  morale, the physical well-being and the general
  welfare of the officers and enlisted persons
  under their command or charge.
• 10 U.S. Code 5947
• Article 1131, Navy Regs

Its our mission To develop Midshipmen
morally, mentally and physically and imbue them
with the highest ideals of duty, honor and
loyalty
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Rescuing the Boat People

• What do you know?
• What does it mean?
• What are your options?
• What are your primary considerations?
• What are your official duties?
• What are your moral duties?
• What would you do?

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Rescuing the Boat PeopleCase study
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Rescuing the Boat People

• What the Captain did he gave them
• 300 lbs of fresh fruit
• 107 lbs of canned food
• 60 lbs of rice (uncooked)
• 50 gals of fresh water
• Navigation charts

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Rescuing the Boat People

• What happened after the ship departed
• Food only lasted a few days
• Boat drifted in the current for 19 more days
• 30 more refugees died before they reached land
• As people died, their bodies were eaten by the
  others
• What the Captain did not know
• The boat did have a working engine the first few
  days
• They had actually been adrift for 17 vice 7 days
• Captain miscalculated they went 250 miles with
  the sail
• Miscalculated how long it would take them to get
  to land
• One of the refugee swimmers actually drowned
• There were over 80 people on the junk not 60

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Rescuing the Boat People

• What happened to the Captain?
• Refused Admirals Mast found guilty at a
  Court-Martial
• Dereliction of Duty (Failure to give adequate
  aid) Given Letter of Reprimand

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Compare to USS San Jacinto

• January 2001
• Gulf of Oman 60 miles off
• coast of Yemen
• Stranded boat
• 11 passengers
• Engine problems
• At sea for 10 days
• USS San Jacintos response
• Provide food and water
• Towed back to port
• WHY THE DIFFERENCE???

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On The Eve of Battle

• Conflict between moral/ethical values and his
  mission?
• More concerned and considerate of the enemy than
  his troops?
• Empty rhetoric designed to motivate his troops or
  commanders guidance?

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Case The Ring of GygesSocrates and Glaucon
(Platos Republic)

• The myth of shepherd w/magic ring that makes him
  invisible.
• How does he act?
• Version II suppose there were two such rings,
• one worn by the just man (morally good)
• the other by the unjust man (morally corrupt or
  wicked)
• Could we discern a difference in their behaviors?

Socrates 479-399BC
Already an ancient myth at time of Socrates
Dr George Lucas, USNA
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The Job Variation

• Greek variation of old myth
• Imagine an unjust man who appears to everyone to
  be just, and is honored
• Simultaneously, imagine a just and good man, who
  is wrongly perceived to be wicked and unjust, and
  thus reviled and shunned
• Let both go through life without rectification of
  these errors of judgment which would we find to
  have lived the happier life?

Dr George Lucas, USNA
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Merriam Webster

• Main Entry ethic Etymology Middle English
  ethik, from Middle French ethique, from Latin
  ethice, from Greek EthikE, from Ethikos
• 1 The discipline dealing with what is good and
  bad and with moral duty and obligation
• 2
• a set of moral principles a theory or system
  of moral values
• The principles of conduct governing an
  individual or a group ltprofessional ethicsgt
• a guiding philosophy
• a consciousness of moral importance ltforge a
  conservation ethicgt
• 3 plural a set of moral issues or aspects (as
  rightness)
• ltdebated the ethics of human cloninggt

Good, Right Ought to dos
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Why Ethics is so Hard DR Tom Grassey, NWC
James B. Stockdale Chair of Leadership Ethics

• Real dilemmas involve complex, hard questions
• Historical contexts shift
• there is sometimes moral progress (e.g., on
  race and gender) that pose problems in new ways
• Pressure of time (Unveiling Exercise/Shoot the
  POW)
• Limits of Knowledge (Boat People case)
• Emotions
• Self Interests
• Organizational Context (Institutional
  politics/practices)

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Hardgot itSO?

• Socrates we would rather ignore than confront
  hard questions when we are made to confront
  them, we get frustrated
• Hard work requires practice and development of
  sensitivity and skill.

Practice of good habits enhances ethical
decision-making
Dr George Lucas, USNA
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If it is so hardWhy do people behave morally?

• Fear of punishment
• Ostracism
• Higher orders
• Duty
• Belief in doing the right thing
• Good of Mankind

You tell me.
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Grassey on Officers Ethics

• Naval officers need not be philosophersBut we
  are members of a profession which has its own
  distinguished ethical code, and in the
  performance of our duties we are bound to uphold
  that code. We are obligated, therefore, to
  reflect upon its character and practical
  directives.

similar to a Safety Stand-down
Dr George Lucas, USNA
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Then lets reflect on the readings

• CDR Tom Grassey Historical contexts shift,
  there is sometimes moral progress (e.g., on
  race and gender) that pose problems in new
  ways
• Ficarrotta versus Edney/Chiles Moral values
  seem to vary among professions
• but should there be a different moral standard
  for the military officer and the average citizen?

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Are we held to a higher standard? Should we be?
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Are we held to a higher standard? Should we be?
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Reading for Class (after next) Relativism

• Objectives from reading
• Know the difference between cultural relativism
  in social science and relativism as a normative
  theory of ethics
• Questions to answer
• What is Relativism?
• Are you a relativist? Why or why not?
• What is Moral Pluralism?
• Can a Naval Officer really be a relativist?

• EMP (6 pages)
• Chapter 2A Relativity of Moral Beliefs (Lucas),
  pp. 25-27 Relativism and Objectivism (Porter),
  pp. 29-31
• CSME (2 pages)
• Our Values or Theirs? (Rubel), pp. 191-2.