ABSTRACT
In the first important work on moral injury, Achilles in Vietnam, Jonathan Shay used Homer’s Iliad to explain the emotional responses of combat veterans to leadership malpractice. This chapter returns to Ancient Greek and Roman literature to focus on another kind of moral injury, one that is provoked not by bad leadership but rather by the emotional strain of being forced to choose between incommensurable values. This kind of moral dilemma was at the heart of Ancient Greek tragedy and was used by Martha Nussbaum to explain the ethical content of Athenian literature and philosophy. The tragic conflicts of Sophocles’ Philoctetes and Virgil’s Aeneid can help us understand the moral injury of combat veterans and healthcare professionals who have faced similar impossible choices.
