Introduction

There is growing awareness of the lasting physical and psychological impacts and many dimensions of trauma. Moral injuries can result from committing, witnessing, or failing to stop an injustice. Humanists are only beginning to study the meaning and significance of moral injuries. The humanities, broadly conceived, are a family of related fields of inquiry. Bazargan-Forward argues that soldiers who agree to work together enjoy a kind of authority over one another: they can legitimately demand of each other that they “do their part,” whatever that might be. Many cases of moral injury involve bearing witness to events that violate deeply held moral values. Mantz identifies some mechanisms of resilience for managing moral wounds. While the term “moral injury” is relatively recent, humans have experienced trauma from warfare for centuries. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.