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Ethics Of Drones Essay

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Drones or unmanned aircraft are like a hammer or gun. They are tools. They are not inherently good or bad. How they are used becomes the ethical issue at hand. Drones have a broad spectrum of wage; from the delivery of pizza, to weather forecasting, to weapons platforms in armed conflict. It is the purpose of this paper to show the use of drones in warfare is necessary and can be ethically justified using the principles of both deontology and utilitarianism. The fact that drones are remotely controlled, sometimes from great distances, does not remove the operators from responsibility, no more than the bullet fired from a gun, it is still the responsibility of the soldier who fired it. Fighting against groups who oppress their citizens through …show more content…

Deontology would say that it, is the pilot’s choice to attack a known target or no to attack a known target. Michael Bergmann advises this would be “distinction between objective and subjective moral duties” he also notes this is “fairy common” (Bergmann). I liken this to the choices the pilot believes they are in possession of, versus the reality of the choices they ultimately have. Deontologicaly speaking the pilot would only be held responsible for the good or wrongness of their actions alone. For example, if a pilot controlling a drone was sent to back up allied troops pinned down by enemy fire and fired two missiles with the first missile striking and neutralizing the enemy combatants. This would be a good thing. However if that second missile missed the target and hit a building where it is unknown if the occupant inside are hostile, it is still a justified use of the drone to defeat an enemy and the drone pilot would not held responsible for unforeseen collateral

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