In Australia, the members of the ADF exclusively comprise the profession of arms. As members of the profession of arms we may be called upon to do things that would not normally be ethically permissible; we may be asked to kill. The use of lethal force and the destruction of property is a task that may be required to achieve the ADF mission, but this is not an end in itself. The ADF uses the ethical, disciplined application of force to achieve the national interest.
There are six Tags under the Australian Profession of Arms banner:
- Reasonable Challenge
- Courageous restraint
- Values of the Profession of Arms
- The military ethos
- Ethics in the Military v.s. Military Ethics, and
- The ethics of responsibility
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Lead Operating SystemsWhat ‘RIGHT’ Looks Like: Linking Command and Moral Authority
Understanding the differences between legal and moral authority (or responsibility) is critical. Without this, military officers may believe the legal authority to give an order is a moral absolute.
Read<30 min17/07/2020 -
Lead SelfAn Introduction to Moral Injury in DefenceThe difference between an individual who returns from a deployment morally injured, and an individual who returns unharmed, may be defined by whether they can answer the following questions: ‘what do I really believe? Who am I? Where do I belong? What is my purpose?’. Can you answer those questions? Unsurprisingly, ‘knowing thyself’ is not a standardised training package delivered by Defence. Should it be so the ADF can craft efficient personnel encapsulating the totality of fitness: physical, intellectual, moral/ethical, and spiritual?
Read<15 min06/05/2020 -
Lead SelfDefence materiel sales - an exploration of the ethical challenges
This paper will discuss the feasibility of seeking assurances or to place additional restrictions or limitations on controls enforced by the Government of Australia.
Read<5 min01/11/2019 -
Lead SelfWhat is the Most Significant Ethical Challenge for the Application of Military Power in the Twenty First Century?The purpose of this task was to encourage students to consider ethical themes throughout the package, engage in focussed debate with their syndicate group and synthesise their discussions into a concise, peer reviewed argument.
Read<30 min27/05/2019 -
Lead SelfCDLE Ethics Paper 1 - 2016Ethics and morality are often seen as esoteric concepts, and are often misunderstood. Just like good manners, everyone thinks that they have been correctly taught what is right or wrong, good or bad, but the reality is that most people do not have a framework for understanding the conceptual underpinning of why they hold these particular beliefs. In order to behave ethically and know the difference between ethical extremes one must be aware of the different perspectives of ethics.
Read> 30 min23/10/2018 -
Ethics and the Brave New BrainAdvances in neuroscience and AI could revolutionise medicine but they also pose significant ethical and social challenges. If a brain computer interface can allow a blind person to see, or restore speech to those who've lost the ability to communicate, what does this mean for a person's sense of self, personal responsibility or privacy?
Read> 30 min23/09/2018