“Killer Drones: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”

A screening of “Killer Drones: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” will take place at 7 p.m., Nov. 8 in the Scandinavian Cultural Center.

The film will be followed by a short response by Pauline M. Kaurin, associate professor and chair of the PLU department of philosophy, with a discussion to follow.

The film addresses the ethics of lethal drone warfare, presented by Bradley J. Strawser, assistant professor of philosophy at the Naval Post Graduate School and research associate at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict.

Strawser has taken the, some may call, controversial position on the use of predator drones:

“Strawser has plunged into the churning, anguished debate by arguing the US is not only entitled but morally obliged to use drones.  ‘It’s all upside. There’s no downside. Both ethically and normatively, there’s a tremendous value,’ he says. ‘You’re not risking the pilot. The pilot is safe. And all the empirical evidence shows that drones tend to be more accurate. We need to shift the burden of the argument to the other side. Why not do this? The positive reasons are overwhelming at this point. This is the future of all air warfare. At least for the US.’ ”

“When I started studying this topic I didn’t know this would be my conclusion. But that’s where my analysis led me.”