Listening to Conflict: Human Experience of War

As new technologies transform the way wars are fought, the ethical and humanitarian stakes of armed conflict continue to evolve. With the rise of cyber and hybrid warfare, as well as the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems, what has been lost in ethical thinking about war as it moves further away from human experience? How can we revisit and adapt our moral frameworks to restore the voices of soldiers, veterans, and civilian victims of warfare?

This Ethics Empowered: Leadership in Practice discussion was moderated by Adam Read-Brown, Carnegie Council’s executive editor and director of journal programming.

Resources

"Soldiers of the Law: How Military Lawyers Made Law Useful to War," Beth Rowan, Ethics & International Affairs, Carnegie Council, July 17, 2026

"Introduction: Ethics, Experience, and War," Cian O’Driscoll and Sian Troath, Ethics & International Affairs, Carnegie Council, July 14, 2026

"Just War Theory Today: Experience Required?," Cian O’Driscoll, Ethics & International Affairs, Carnegie Council, June 26, 2026

"The Intellectual Inheritance of Machine Learning and the Ethics of Algorithmic War," Sian Troath, Ethics & International Affairs, Carnegie Council, June 25, 2026

"Collateral Voices: Civilian Perspectives, Moral Injury, and the Ethics of War," Jessica Wolfendale, Ethics & International Affairs, Carnegie Council, June 25, 2026

"Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine, with Liubov Tsybulska," Global Ethics Review, Carnegie Council, September 22, 2022

"Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, with Paul Scharre," Public Affairs, Carnegie Council, May 8, 2018

Discussion Questions

1. How can future leaders help ensure that the lived experiences of soldiers, veterans, and civilian victims remain part of decisions and debates about war, particularly as warfare becomes increasingly technologically driven?
2. How should the lived experiences of soldiers, veterans, and civilian victims inform the ethical frameworks used to understand and conduct war?
3. As AI-enabled targeting and autonomous weapons play a greater role in conflict, where should human judgment remain, and who should bear responsibility when these systems cause harm?
4. How can scholars, military practitioners, policymakers, journalists, and people directly affected by war work together to prevent ethical discussions of conflict from becoming disconnected from realities on the ground?
5. How can just war theory and other traditional ethical frameworks adapt to forms of warfare in which those making decisions and acting are physically removed from the battlefield?

Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit. The views expressed within this panel are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Carnegie Council.