Strength and Power. Ideas of Moral Autonomy Within Australian Doctrine: An analysis informed by the Stoic philosophy of Epictetus

Abstract

Investigating ideas of moral autonomy in Australian Defence Doctrine Publication 00.6: Leadership in the Australian Defence Force ( doctrine ), the present thesis finds expectations of moral strength subordinated beneath ideas of positional power. For this reason doctrine is not seen to provide a philosophy applicable to the profession of arms. Recalling the foundations of western military thinking in classical Greece, the thesis investigates the metaphor of the hoplite phalanx. The phalanx defined a physically brutal, philosophically uncompromising approach to conflict. In the phalanx, military service was saturated with moral expectation. Following collapse of the poleis and demise of the phalanx, critical ideas were recaptured by Stoicism, a philosophy resonant with western military ideals. Stoicism found compelling expression in the philosophy of self-mastery asserted by Epictetus. Harm, argues Epictetus, comes only from the surrender of moral autonomy. This uncompromising credo captured the Socratic conviction that good will alone is significant. Evoking Plato and Aristotle, this idea captures the bequest of classical thinking to modern ethics. Stoicism articulates a philosophy of morally autonomous and purposeful self-mastery. Resonant with the profession of arms, Stoicism belittles physical harm in relation to the agony of shame endured by those who fail in moral duties. Yet, despite the military timbre, Stoicism is seen in the present study to challenge the dominant ideas of Australian doctrine. Doctrine detaches ideas of personal integrity from the reality of war. Doing so, doctrine fails to recognise that war has a moral veracity determined by human judgement, and connected to inherited and persistent moral ideas. Moral ideas persist through the advancement and evolution of societies, illuminating philosophical constants and enabling war to be interpreted and understood as more than manoeuvre and strategy. Recalling the past, this study provokes consideration of a new doctrinal paradigm. The study connects Australian doctrine to ethical concepts which, since September 11th 2001, have reasserted themselves as decisive elements of international affairs and conflict. The study does not argue for the resurrection of classical criterion. Rather, the study tables Stoicism as a lens through which doctrinal principles may be reinterpreted and made relevant.