Elite moral schooling did not prevent intellectuals justifying the Vietnam War

Evidence

If the Good and the Beautiful, Peace and Justice cannot be derived either from ontological or scientific-rational conditions, they cannot logically claim universal validity and realization. In terms of scientific reason, they remain matters of preference, and no resuscitation of some kind of Aristotelian or Thomistic philosophy can save the situation, for it is a priori refuted by scientific reason. The unscientific character of these ideas fatally weakens the opposition to the established reality; the ideas become mere ideals, and their concrete, critical content evaporates into the ethical or metaphysical atmosphere. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 555 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moral justifications can substitute for discredited rationales to sustain support for war — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2317; Moral principles and elite virtue can be marshaled to justify disastrous wars — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 200; Moral ideals reduced to subjective preference fatally weaken opposition to reality — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 555 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Moral ideals reduced to subjective preference fatally weaken opposition to reality #complicates (0.78) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 555