Ep 56: Moral Injury

Unlatched Mind

Philosopher, emerging public intellectual, and the Director of Great Philosophical Problems, Dr. Timothy Shaw joins the show. Dr. Shaw has undertaken original research into how existential concepts impact and are reflected in the psychological distress models of the “Signature Wound” of contemporary war, Moral Injury.

Moral Injury is the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct. Moral injury can occur in reaction to a traumatic event in which deeply held morals or values are violated. The resulting distress may lead to PTSD, depression, and other disorders in which feelings such as guilt, shame, betrayal and anger are predominant, although these feelings may occur in the absence of a formal disorder. Although most research that has been conducted has focused on military Veterans, moral injury can occur outside of the military context.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The definitive meaning and utility of Frederik Nietzche’s masterwork, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, being used as the framework to define Moral Injury and provide commentary on the current Western psyche.
• The alignment of war and recourse to the Kosovo experience as expressed by Chomsky
• Understanding the origin and use of nuclear weapons and how they can be understood as bones to philosophy, but milk to faith
• The historical development and understandings of the terms of genocide and crimes against humanity, and how these have disseminated throughout our culture and societies since the Nuremberg trials