Notes

Outline

Combat Ethics: Saving Private Ryan

Overview Defining Moments Save the family? Take the radar station? Kill the prisoner Disobeying orders The sniper Principal Themes Consequentalist calculations Character and Virtue Courage Compassion Duty Redemption Appendix: The Cast of Characters

Defining Moments Save the family? What to do about the dying soldier? Take the bunker? Kill the prisoner?

Save the Family? Play 51:40 —saving the little girl .  .  Chaos—Caparzo—“the decent thing”

Save the Family--2 To save the trapped family?  To take the girl?  To give the girl to the soldiers? CarpazoL “She reminds me of my niece.  The decent thing is to take her down the road to the next town.” Reply: “ We’re not here to do the decent thing.” When should we be compassionate?

Save the Family--3 Play  56:45. Capt. Miller: “That’s why we can’t take children”—pointing to dead soldier. Compassionate, humanitarian gesture led to death of soldier. Should they have tried to help the family?

Take the Radar Station? Play 1:24:20 (Chapter 12) Take out the machine gun nest?  This isn’t our mission.  Unnecessary risk?

The Radar Station--2 Balancing considerations What will directly help the mission? What we help other Allied soldiers who come this way?

Kill the Prisoner Play 1:33:20 Upham:  “Are you going to let them kill him?  Sir, it’s not right.”

Kill the Prisoner--2 An added twist with this decision—we later see that the freed soldier returns to fight against them again

Kill the Prisoner--3 Play: 1:40:10 Miller:  “I’ve changed some.  My wife might not recognize me....  But if it earns me the right to get back to my wife…Every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.” What would you do?

Disobeying Orders Reiben threatens to walk away from the mission

Disobeying Orders--2 The cost of taking the radar station had been high.  Medic Wade had been killed.

Disobeying Orders--3 When do you fire on your own fellow soldier? Helicopter pilot at Mi Lai.

The Wise Rifleman Aristotle: The clever man knows the best means to any end; The wise man knows what ends are worth striving for. “Very self-reliant, a lot of self-confidence, but easygoing.  A lot of common sense, too.” Cpt. Steve Kruger, quoted in Making the Corp, p. 271

The Wise Rifleman, 2 General Krulak: “How do you impart to a 19 year old the intelligence, the tactical skills, the decision making ability--both tactical and moral--to know when to fire and when to protect?  When to employ supporting arms in an urban slum and when not to?”

The Sniper Early scene: Sniper kissing his crucifix, invoking God to be at his side He is indeed “playing God”

The Sniper-2 The sniper’s bullet usually arrives unannounced. Are there any moral issues associated with being a sniper as opposed to being a regular combat soldier?

Types of Moral Reasoning Consequentialist: Group egoism Deontological: Duty

Consequentalist Calculations Many of the decisions made in combat are made on the basis of consequences, weighing the costs and benefits of various alternatives.

Consequentalist Calculations--2 Play: 0:43:00 “Explain the math of this to me—risking the eight of us for one life”

Consequentalist Calculations--3 1:16:00  “…22 guys dead protecting life of one general because of metal plates on plane.” 1:38:50  “…little Jimmy’s life is more important than two of our guys.” 1:05:00 Ranger says, “I sure can understand what you’re doing.  I’ve got a couple of brothers myself.”

Consequentalist Calculations--4 Play 1:05:45 Church scene.  Recalling crazy guys like Vecchio.   “When one of your men is killed, you tell yourself it happened to save the life of 3, 19, maybe a hundred others….We’ve lost 94 men,,,I’ve saved the lives of maybe 10 times that.  That’s how simple it is…. Sometimes the mission is the man….  This Ryan better be worth it—he better go home and cure some disease or invent

Consequentalist Calculations—5 Play 1:05:45 Church scene.  Recalling crazy guys like Vecchio.   “When one of your men is killed, you tell yourself it happened to save the life of 3, 19, maybe a hundred others….We’ve lost 94 men,,,I’ve saved the lives of maybe 10 times that.  That’s how simple it is…. Sometimes the mission is the man….  This Ryan better be worth it—he better go home and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.”

Basic Insights of Utilitarianism Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions We should do whatever will bring the most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to all of humanity.

Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832 Bentham believed that we should try to increase the overall amount of pleasure in the world.

Pleasure Definition: The enjoyable feeling we experience when a state of deprivation is replaced by fulfillment. Advantages Easy to quantify Short duration Bodily Criticisms Came to be known as “the pig’s philosophy” Ignores higher values Could justify living on a pleasure machine

John Stuart Mill 1806-1873 Bentham’s godson Believed that happiness, not pleasure, should be the standard of utility.

Happiness Advantages A higher standard, more specific to humans About realization of goals Disadvantages More difficult to measure

Ideal Values G. E. Moore suggested that we should strive to maximize ideal values such as freedom, knowledge, justice, and beauty.

The Utilitarian Calculus Math and ethics finally merge: all consequences must be weighed. Units of measurement: Hedons: pleasure Dolors: pain

Consequentalist Calculations--6 The underlying pattern of moral reasoning here seems to be group egoism. Not utilitarianism, which would be for the good of everyone, including the enemy Not individual egoism, which would be each soldier for himself The group in group egoism varies Sometimes the squad Sometimes American soldiers in general Which group is one of the issues in deciding whether to attack the radar station.

Consequentialist Calculations--7 When do considerations of honor override calculations of consequences? PLAY 34:00

We’d do the same Play: 48:35. Dialogue: Why do they keep shooting him?  Reply: We’d do the same. Taking beach bunker: Both sides kill—the Germans are not depicted as doing anything that American soldiers would not do.  The key moral question is the situation.  How ought one to behave in a situation of such brutality?  Killing those who surrender?  Flame throwers.  Shooting soldiers in trenches—killing field.

Virtue Courage Compassion Duty Obedience Devotion--Sarge

True Courage Courage is the ability to persevere in the face of your fears.  It has several components: Strength of will--guts Knowing what is worth taking risks for Knowing how great the risks really are Knowing how great your abilities really are.

Cowardice The cowardly person: May not know what is worth taking risks for; May over-estimate how dangerous a situation is; May underestimate his own abilities; or, finally, May just lack strength of will, guts.

Courage and Self-Sacrifice Aristotle …the virtuous person labors for his friends and his native country, and will die for them if he must…he will choose a single fine and great action over many small actions…the one who dies for others chooses something great and fine for himself.  (1169a) The Marines "There is yet another element…that defines Marines, and that is selflessness: a spirit that places the self-interest of the individual second to that of the institution.  That selflessness is stronger nowhere in American society than among Marines."  FMFM 1-0.

Courage: Overview

Compassion What place, if any, does compassion have on the battlefield? Toward non-combatants? Trapped French family Toward fellow soldiers? Carpezo pinned down by sniper Toward the enemy? Captured soldier Toward the families of soldiers? Mrs. Ryan’s grief

Compassion--2 How should soldiers respond to the suffering of non-combatants?  On what basis should this decision be made?

Compassion--3 The price of Caparzo’s compassion

Compassion--4 What do you risk when a soldier is dying under fire?  Wade struggles to reach Carpazo.

Compassion--5 What is the proper way of showing compassion for the grief of a mother who has lost three sons?

Compassion Etymology: to feel or suffer with… Elements: cognitive, emotional, and action. Leads to action. Excess: the “bleeding heart.” Deficiency: moral callousness. The foundation of a moral awareness.  Without compassion, we have no emotional connectedness with the suffering of others and thus no foundation for a common moral life.

Compassion and Pity Pity looks down on the other. Consequently, no one wants to be the object of pity. Compassion sees the suffering of the other we something that could have happened to us. Consequently, we welcome the compassion of others when we are suffering.

Compassion As an Emotion Emotion is often necessary: To recognize the suffering of others Emotional attunement Part of the response to that suffering Others often need to feel that you care

Compassion: Overview

Compassion and War Captain Miller “That’s why we can’t take children” 56:45 “Every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.” 1:30:10

Duty Capt. Miller: “…our duty as solders—even if the mission is FUBAR, especially if it is FUBAR.”

Kant: The Ethics of Duty More than any other philosopher, Kant emphasized the way in which the moral life was centered on duty.

Two Conceptions of Duty Duty as following orders The Adolph Eichmann model Duty is external Duty is imposed by others Duty as freely  imposing obligation on one’s own self The Kantian model Duty is internal We impose duty on ourselves

Duty and Following Orders “I had known the Categorical Imperative, but it was in a nutshell, in a summarized form. I suppose it could be summarized as, ‘Be loyal to the laws, be a disciplined person, live an orderly life, do not come into conflict with laws’—that more or less was the whole essence of that law for the use of the little man.” Adolph Eichmann

The Man of Duty “Suppose then that the mind of this friend of man were overclouded by sorrows of his own which extinguished all sympathy with the fate of others, but that he still had power to help those in distress, though no longer stirred by the need of others because sufficiently occupied with his own; and suppose that, when no longer moved by any inclination, he tears himself out of this deadly insensibility and does the action without any inclination for the sake of duty alone; then for the first time his action has its genuine moral worth. Still further: if nature had implanted little sympathy in this or that man’s heart; if (being in other respects an honest fellow) he were cold in temperament and indifferent to the sufferings of others—perhaps because, being endowed with the special gift of patience and robust endurance in his own sufferings, he assumed the like in others or even demanded it; if such a man (who would in truth not be the worst product of nature) were not exactly fashioned by her to be a philanthropist, would he not still find in himself a source from which he might draw a worth far higher than any that a good-natured temperament can have? Assuredly he would. It is precisely in this that the worth of character begins to show—a moral worth and beyond all comparison the highest—namely, that he does good, not from inclination, but from duty.” --Groundwork of a Metaphysics of Morals

Redemption Play 1:05:45 Church scene.  Recalling crazy guys like Vecchio.   “When one of your men is killed, you tell yourself it happened to save the life of 3, 19, maybe a hundred others….We’ve lost 94 men,,,I’ve saved the lives of maybe 10 times that.  That’s how simple it is…. Sometimes the mission is the man….  This Ryan better be worth it—he better go home and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.”

Redemption--2 Play: redemption.  1:52:50, Chapter 14. “Perhaps, if we do this, we all earn the right to go home.” Play: 2:36:13 “Angels on our shoulders.”  “James, earn this.  Earn it.”

Redemption--3 Play 2:40:35 Ryan: “Tell me I’ve led a good life…Tell me I’m a good man.”  Wife: you are.

Redemption--4 "How do you find decency in the hell of warfare? That was the paradox that first attracted me to the project."--Spielberg

Appendix: The Characters Captain Miller Private Ryan Sergeant Horvath Private Reiben Private Jackson Medic Wade Corporal Upham Private Melish Private Caparzo

Captain John Miller Actor: Tom Hanks

Private Ryan Private James Francis Ryan Actor: Matt Damon

Private Reiben Actor: Ed Burns A rebel, threatens to walk out on the mission after the attack on the radar station.

T/4 Medic Wade Actor: Giovanni Ribisi Killed in attack on radar station

Sergeant First Class Horvath Actor: Tom Sizemore The omnicompetent sergeant

Corporal Upham Actor: Jeremy Davies The coward

Private Jackson Private Jackson, Sniper Actor: Barry Pepper

Private Melish Actor: Adam Goldberg The only Jewish member of the company

Private Caparzo Actor: Vin Diesel Killed by sniper in village when trying to save girl in French family