Somalia - Case Study

In April 1992, during the conflict between the Bosnian Serbs and Muslims, Milan Lukic and his cousin formed a gang of rebels called Wolves (Bosnian Serbs). These Wolves and their leader, beat, killed and tortured Muslim men and women. After being arrested in 2005 then tried in 2009 for his crimes between 1992 and 1995, Lukic was found guilty for crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. This scenario is one that invokes various questions, emotions and responses as to the morality of the situation and implores us to think about how we explain our own moral interpretation of difficult situations. Using this case study, this paper will discuss my preferred moral reasoning framework and how I use it to assess situations. As CF members, we may be called upon to make difficult moral decisions throughout our careers so it is important to have a good understanding of our own moral reasoning.

First, it is important to have a sense of what ones preferred approach is to assessing situations. To do this, I completed the MPI questionnaire from Anthony Falikowski’s Modern Philosophy for Modern Life. This tool indicated that my preferred reasoning framework was a split between utilitarian and deontological. As a deontological, I place a lot of value on doing the right thing and for the right reason vice doing something to make someone happy. As a utilitarian it is not about what is good for me, rather what is good for the numbers. It is about producing the best results for all people affected. The questionnaire does not necessarily dictate our moral reasoning rather it is a guide that stimulates conversation on how you would look at or assess ethical situations and make decisions.

Second, it is important to recognize how much we base our assessments of situations on our own values and beliefs that have been molded by family, friends, and life events. As CF members there is an additional layer imbedded in what we are taught through the CF Statement of...