Military and Societal Values :: Military Philosophy Society Essays

Military and Societal Values Colonel Malham M. Wakin, in his flush address, asks whether Platos claim that knowledge is virtue is true. Much contemporary experience suggests otherwise. To most extent, such an observation could apply to the soldiers as well. Col Wakin argues that we do have some basic knowledge about human conduct, unless that we live in a highly pluralistic society in which some practices reject that basic knowledge. Nonetheless, even though we draw members of the military from that pluralistic society, the uniqueness of the military function will always give its leading practitioners apart from the mainstream of civilian society. The military profession swears to defend the values, the life-style that incorporates the minimal conditions for human dignity. After examining the convergence of the values that are functionally necessary for the military and those that we know are fundamental to social existence, he concludes that a competent military profession can serve as a moral anchor for its parent society. IMany geezerhood ago when I learned I was going to have the probability to study philosophy at the graduate level, I was tremendously excited. What a wonderful opportunity this would be, I thought, to sit at the feet of Socrates and be tiro by those who studied the crucial problems of human existence. I expected that older philosophy professors would be marvelous role models in their personalized lives and I looked forward with great anticipation to associating with those who had solved the problems of the universe. Indeed, these sr. professors seemed very wise. They were blatant in their abilities to rattle off the names and theories of great thinkers from every era. They knew the views of those whose names I couldnt even pronounce and I said to myself Ill never be able to grasp all of these ideas nor remember them well enough to tutor them to others. But as time went on, I was slightly devastated to observe that these seni or professors were not, as a group, the congenial masters of everyday living I expected them to be. They were not all basically kind persons--not even to each(prenominal) other. In fact, some would occasionally cross the street to avoid clash and speaking with a colleague. And some had difficulties in their most important personal relationships--divorce, legal squabbles, envy, character assassination, narcissism--hardly what I had hoped for in the most knowledgeable, most studious persons in our society.