From Flanders Fields to the Moviegoer: Philosophical Foundations for a Transcendent Ethical Framework

By Michael A. Milton

How do educators, clergy, attorneys, and the concerned public come to terms with meaningful, workable ethics in an age that eschews any attempt to define truth and error? Michael A. Milton has addressed that question in the new monograph, From Flanders Field to the Moviegoer: Philosophical Foundations for a Transcendent Ethical Framework. Milton draws on English literature, sociology, history, public policy, and theology to mark milestones in the cultural journey from the philosophical crisis after World War I, the end of modernity and the introduction of the "theater of the absurd" in post-modernity. Rather than merely a survey, this monograph proposes a "way forward" in teaching metaphysical ethics. Originally given as a paper before American and British defense leaders in Washington, DC, Milton's original paper is now expanded for use in undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate classrooms, as well as libraries and professional military education.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Oct 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781725251519

Michael A. Milton

Michael A. Milton (PhD, Wales) is a long time pastor (PCA) and educator. An alumnus of UNC-Chapel Hill, Milton is a retired Army Chaplain (Colonel) of 32 years, and recipient of the Legion of Merit, and the highest award for public service in NC. Dr. Milton is the Distinguished Professor of Missions at Erskine Seminary and president of the D. James Kennedy Institute. An author, artist, and musician, Mike and Mae Milton reside in Western North Carolina.

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FROM Flanders Fields TO THE MOVIEGOER

Philosophical Foundations for a Transcendent Ethical Framework

Michael A. Milton

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FROM Flanders Fields TO THE MOVIEGOER

Philosophical Foundations for a Transcendent Ethical Framework

Copyright © 2019 Michael A. Milton. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

TITLE PAGE

Abstract

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Transformative War

Chapter 2: Postbellum Poetry as Signs of Ethical and Philosophical Frustration

Chapter 3: Modernity’s Failure and Postmodernity’s Madness

Chapter 4: Mother’s Knee Ethics or Civic Ethics?

Chapter 5: An Unlikely Case Study in Transcendent Ethics

Chapter 6: Moral Man and Immoral Society

Chapter 7: A Way Forward

About the Author

Bibliography

To Mae and John Michael and the enchanted years

The roar fell faint and farther off, and soon    Sank to a foolish humming in our ears,Like crickets in the long, hot afternoon    Among the wheat fields of the olden years.

—from The Unconquered Dead, John McCae, M.D. (1872–1918)

Abstract

What are the lessons learned from Bataille de la Somme to Seconde Bataille de la Marne concerning the ethical training of military service members? The author of this paper contends that one of the lessons to be learned remains a question to be answered. Thus, the research question is put:

What is the most effective ethical framework for the training of military personnel to fight and rest from war?

The question posed, ostensibly, in the realm of normative and applied ethics, is (the author of the paper proposes) nested in meta-ethics and, specifically, ontology. The author’s response to the research question is a hypothesis, stated:

That, when human beings are assaulted by events (in the case of this paper, the Great War,

1914–1918

) that ignite a cultural and individual phenomenological crisis, human beings express a frustration with philosophical skepticism and demand a transcendent ethical framework to answer the great existential questions;

Therefore, a meta-ethical position should be utilized in framing an applied ethic for teaching military service members.

Moving from the developments in the culture existential crisis in the First World War, citing primary source material from pre-war archival transcription of a report to Parliament by Edward Grey (1905–1916), the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with post-war primary sources from Post-War ethicist Max Carl Otto (1876–1968), the author uses a qualitative historical sample of postbellum literature (1918–1939), notably the poem, In Flanders Field (1915), and T.S. Eliot’s, The Hollow Men (1925) to express a Western existential frustration with artifacts of philosophical skepticism. The paper seeks to understand this philosophical skepticism by examining the reality and impact of Modernity and Postmodernity. Modernity’s failure following the Great War led to an existential rebellion in the arts: The Theatre of the Absurd (this, the title of Martin Esslin’s [1918–2002] book [1961] described the Postmodern spirit of Samuel Beckett’s [1906–1989] Waiting for Godot (1953), followed by Samuel Beckett’s stage play of the same name). The utter despair of Postmodernity’s response to Modernity’s failure is addressed in Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer (1961). Percy provides an incarnational reply that transcends both modernity and postmodernity. The crisis lived out in literature was mirrored in other institutions and endeavors, including ethics and ethical education. Thus, we move from the philosophical foundations that led to a crisis in ethical education, to suggest, with Walker Percy, an application (here, then, applied ethics). This monograph encourages use of a Mother’s Knee ethic that draws on the warranted proper function of Alvin Carl Plantinga (1932 -), the meta-ethical sample, the Army Ethic White Paper (11 July 2014), and that can be taught to diverse populations with a pedagogy well-known within the Armed Forces Chaplaincy community: cooperation without compromise. The paper concludes with a call for further inquiry, utilizing quantitative research methods, on the effect of an applied pedagogy built on the proposed enacting of the, constructed but mostly idle, metaphysical ethical framework.

PREFACE

The monograph you are reading came about as an invitation to speak to a gathering of American and British defense personnel at the National Defense University in Washington D.C. Following that time I received peer-reviewed comments about the section on the philosophical foundations that underpinned my presentation. I had apparently failed to sufficiently introduce and describe the philosophical foundations arising out of the post-World War I existential crisis. Not only did I agree with the reviewers assessment, I reworked the paper somewhat in order to highlight that crisis. In a real way it is impossible to tell the story of the monumental and seismic shifts in Western culture without addressing modernity and postmodernity.

Of course, the larger concern of this monograph is ethics and ethics education. While my concern in the initial draft and presentation was for ethics education in American and British military officer training—especially, the training of military chaplains—I trust that the present edition will provide the opportunity for thinking through the application of these principles to other areas of education, and, indeed, other branches of human endeavor.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank my old colleague, Mr. Jim Tedrick, at Wipf and Stock Publishers in Eugene, Oregon. Wipf and Stock has emerged as not only a trusted ally for the theology professor in the classroom, but a source of books and even academic monographs, like this one, that are selected for content, first and foremost. Their business model is a refreshing one in today’s marketplace.

I would be derelict in my acknowledgments if I did not mention my faithful assistant, Mrs. Christine Hartung. Thank you, Christine, for sharing your administrative gifts, and for your kindness. You do your work as unto the Lord, and not another.

I must, also, recognize Miss Robin Broome for her cheerful work. Robin, you inspire us with your abilities. But we appreciate you for who you are, not just for what you do.

I wish to also thank The Reverend Dr. Timothy Mallard, Chaplain (Colonel), US Army,