The Code of the Warrior

The Code of the Warrior

Editor's Note: This is a rebroadcast. It originally aired July 2020.

War is a violent and bloody business, but it's rarely a no-holds barred free-for-all. Instead, codes of conduct that determine what is and isn't honorable behavior on the battlefield have existed since ancient times.

My guest today explored these various codes in a book she wrote during the decade she spent teaching at the United States Naval Academy. Her name is Shannon French, she's a professor of ethics and philosophy, and her book is The Code of the Warrior: Exploring Warrior Values Past and Present. Shannon and I begin our conversation with the pointed questions she used to pose to the cadets she taught as to how being a warrior was different than being a killer or murderer, and when killing is and isn't ethical. She then explains how the warrior codes which developed all around the world arose organically from warriors themselves for their own protection, and how these codes are more about identity than rules. Shannon and I then take a tour of warrior codes across time and culture, starting with the code in Homer's Iliad, and then moving into the strengths and weaknesses of the Stoic philosophy which undergirded the code of the Romans. From there we unpack the code of the medieval knights of Arthurian legend, what American Indians can teach soldiers about the need to make clear transitions between the homefront and the warfront, and how the Bushido code of the samurais sought to balance the influence of four different religions. We end our conversation with the role warrior codes play today in an age of increasingly technologized combat.

If reading this in an email, click the title of the post to listen to the show.

Resources Related to the PodcastConnect With Shannon

Shannon on Twitter

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jaksot(1158)

Ecclesiastes on Enjoying Our Weirdly Unsatisfying Lives

Ecclesiastes on Enjoying Our Weirdly Unsatisfying Lives

Of all the books in the Bible, Ecclesiastes is arguably the most philosophical. Dark, experiential, existential, and unsparingly honest about the human condition, it wrestles with work, money, ambitio...

10 Helmi 55min

How to Help Disengaged Young Men Reclaim Drive and Direction

How to Help Disengaged Young Men Reclaim Drive and Direction

Not long ago, the primary concern people had about boys was that they were wild, impulsive, and out of control — getting into fights, pushing limits, and stirring up trouble. Today, the problem has fl...

3 Helmi 44min

The Click Effect — Inside the Science and Magic of Social Chemistry

The Click Effect — Inside the Science and Magic of Social Chemistry

We’ve all had that feeling — you meet someone new, and the conversation just flows. You’re in sync. You click. But what’s really happening when that magic occurs?My guest today is journalist Kate Murp...

27 Tammi 54min

How Football Took Over America — and Could Collapse

How Football Took Over America — and Could Collapse

American football is so big — so braided into our weekends, our language, and our culture — that it can be hard to see it clearly as a whole.In his new book, Football, Chuck Klosterman helps us see th...

20 Tammi 57min

Money and Meaning — What Faith Traditions Teach Us About Personal Finance

Money and Meaning — What Faith Traditions Teach Us About Personal Finance

We usually think of money as something very practical, concrete, and secular; we earn it, save it, spend it, and crunch the numbers behind it. But money is never just about money: it reflects our valu...

13 Tammi 45min

Strong, Conditioned, and Ready for Anything — How to Become a Hybrid Athlete

Strong, Conditioned, and Ready for Anything — How to Become a Hybrid Athlete

For decades, fitness culture has tended to break people into two categories: you’re either a strength guy or an endurance guy. You lift heavy or run far — but not both.But my guest today says you don'...

6 Tammi 59min

How to Use Probability Hacking to Achieve Your Goals

How to Use Probability Hacking to Achieve Your Goals

Most of us chase goals — starting a business, running a marathon, getting a promotion — without ever asking: What are the actual odds this will work?My guest today says those odds aren’t just graspabl...

30 Joulu 202550min

Escape the Happiness Trap

Escape the Happiness Trap

Note: This is a rebroadcast. Happiness is the subject of thousands of articles, podcasts, and scientific studies. Yet all this focus on happiness doesn’t seem to be making people any happier. In fact,...

23 Joulu 202551min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
psykopodiaa-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
rss-narsisti
adhd-podi
rss-rahamania
psykologia
ihminen-tavattavissa-tommy-hellsten-instituutti
kesken
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-valo-minussa-2
rss-vapaudu-voimaasi
jari-sarasvuo-podcast
rss-tietoinen-yhteys-podcast-2
rahapuhetta
rss-turun-yliopisto
rss-arkea-ja-aurinkoa-podcast-espanjasta
rss-ranskaa-raakana
rss-uskonto-on-tylsaa