
Not Shooting and Not Crying
Psychological Inquiry into Moral Disobedience
Ruth Linn(Author)
Praeger Publishers Inc
Published on 26. September 1989
Book
Hardback
174 pages
978-0-313-26497-9 (ISBN)
Description
"Mr. Prime Minister, to achieve order in the casbah I have to act brutally toward people free of crime, too. I feel humiliated by this behavior. The situation has become a catastrophe. It's breaking us." So spoke an Israeli soldier when Prime Minister Shamir visited troops in the West Bank. Until Not Shooting and Not Crying, few have addressed, from a psychological perspective, the coping strategies and unconventional resolutions constructed by the Israeli soldier in the face of overwhelming moral dilemmas, which he traditionally solved by unselfishly risking his life, but not by refusing to fight. In Israel, refusing to fight for one's country is considered deviant behavior, but in the war in Lebanon individuals adopted this unconventional mode of moral resolution for the first time. Linn assesses the nature of the decision-making process involved in this mode of selective conscientious objection and attempts to define the moral meaning of such behavior, both to the dedicated Israeli soldier and his society. This volume investigates how and why the phenomenon of selective conscientious objection emerged so dramatically during the war in Lebanon, identifies the psychological characteristics of the soldiers who chose this course of action, and considers the impact and future consequences of this action on Israeli society.
Linn summarizes the military history of Israel from the 1967 Six-Day War to the undeclared war currently being waged in the occupied territories. The nine chapters, followed by references, tables, and appendixes, address such areas as: the individual conscience at war--a search for a theoretical framework; why the Lebanon war precipitated the phenomenon of conscientious objection; the objectors' claims for moral superiority and consistency; refusing soldiers compared to striking physicians; and others. Scholars and students of military affairs, psychologists, and those concerned with contemporary ethical/moral issues will find Linn's work indispensable.
Linn summarizes the military history of Israel from the 1967 Six-Day War to the undeclared war currently being waged in the occupied territories. The nine chapters, followed by references, tables, and appendixes, address such areas as: the individual conscience at war--a search for a theoretical framework; why the Lebanon war precipitated the phenomenon of conscientious objection; the objectors' claims for moral superiority and consistency; refusing soldiers compared to striking physicians; and others. Scholars and students of military affairs, psychologists, and those concerned with contemporary ethical/moral issues will find Linn's work indispensable.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
360 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-313-26497-9 (9780313264979)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
RUTH LINN, who served on the Israel Defense Forces from 1968 to 1970, is now in the Department of Education at the University of Haifa in Haifa, Israel. She has presented papers on various aspects of moral thought and behavior at scientific conferences around the world and her writings have been published in Psychological Reports, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Journal of Applied Science Psychology, Armed Forces and Society, and Social Cognition, among others.
Content
Introduction The Individual Conscience at War The Israeli Soldier as a Selective Conscientious Objector: Why during the War in Lebanon? The Claim for Moral Superiority The Claim for Moral Consistency Conscience in War and in "Labor War: Refusing Soldiers vis a vis Striking Physicians Morally or Politically Motivated Behavior? The Case of the Combatant Medics The Claim for Credibility Selective Conscientious Objection: An Action of Justice or Care When All Come Together Appendices Index