Justice and care reasoning in morally ambiguous situations – examples from Vietnam and the Intifada

The following paper analyzes two types of moral reasoning presented by two moral figures from the My Lai massacre and in an extreme morally conflicting situation during the first phase of the Intifada. The sociomoral and political forces that shape the state of mind of the acting soldiers are delineated. The work of Kohlberg (1984) and Gilligan (1987) serve as the theoretical framework for this inquiry.

The culture of war did not compel troops to commit atrocities, it created circum stances in which atrocity was possible, maybe probable, but not inevitable. (Bilton & Sim, 1992, p.18).