Empathy at War: The Distinction Between Reasonableness and the Reasonable Military Commander Standard

There is a distinction between asking whether a military commander’s act was reasonable and asking whether a military commander acted in the manner in which a reasonable military commander would have acted. The difference is that only the second question compels a person assessing a given state of affairs to engage in empathetic perspective-taking. Accordingly, this chapter argues that the reasonable military commander test is a legal device which invites those who apply it to engage in empathetic perspective-taking. Construing the reasonable military commander test as a perspective-taking device brings into focus the crucial question of whose views and whose interests influence the legal evaluation of a commander’s behaviour. Understanding the reasonable military commander test in this way also directs attention to the role of empathy in the battlefield. It is important to be clear about this rationale of the reasonable military commander test in the battlefield in order to ensure that the conduct of military commanders is assessed accurately.