Ask a Stoic: My Job Kills People. Should I Quit?

When your morals ask for more than lip service

Taliban fighters driving a captured American Humvee.

“Mark” Asks:

I’m an engineer for a large defense manufacturer. Some of our weapons were sold to a third party and are being used to kill innocent people (along with many bad actors).

I've always thought my job was moral, and I’m ok with some civilian deaths in just wars — you can’t totally avoid them. But the scale of this bothers me, and I’m not sure this is a just conflict. I’ve been soul-searching and wondering if my principles demand I leave my job, which will hurt my family. Everyone else at work is keeping their heads down and I’m not sure what to do. I need help thinking it through. What’s the Stoic response to my situation?

Andrew Answers:

Give up on the idea of one Stoic response; there’s only using your greatest gift — your rational nature — to figure out what’s in line with wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation, the elements of Stoic virtue.

If you read Epictetus or Monsonius Rufus you’ll notice them handing out firm opinions, but these are not Stoic opinions, but what they considered virtuous from their particular vantage point. Moderns might disagree about what’s virtuous — as conservatives and liberals do — which means we need to reason things out for ourselves.

But as your question suggests, apprehending what’s right isn’t easy. The world is complex and it’s it’s hard to know how to weigh our options. I’ll try to give you some perspective.

Start With Virtue:

Moderation:

Is there a middle ground between bootlicking and rashness where your true power lies? Does your industry experience suggest any leverage points? Might you stake out the uncomfortable but moral middle ground, as Socrates did as Athens tore itself apart?

When you speak to bosses and coworkers about this, what tone and arguments will you utilize? Will you rely on the hysterics of war protestors or the reason that’s your birthright?

Courage:

Does courage demand you leave your job, or is it more courageous to try to change things from the inside by rallying coworkers and fighting for better policies that build a more ethical company? Is there any way quietism wouldn’t be immoral here?

Justice:

Does justice demand you create no weapons because they can be misused?

You seem to think not. So is the problem that the ultimate use of your weapons is uncontrollable? That your company sells armaments to questionable third parties? Or is your government, which buys your arms, passing them to bad actors in a way that taints your occupation?

What exactly is the problem? Does the logarithmic scale of civilian casualties bother you? Why do ten thousand bodies matter more than a hundred?

Drill down on exactly what injustice is being done by you, and what it would look like to not be morally stained by your occupation. What would have to change for you to consider yourself a just person?

Wisdom:

Wisdom suggests external things — like losing a job — aren’t bad for us, but neither are they needlessly embraced. Similarly, civilian deaths, while never sought, might not always be an indelible stain.

The only truly bad things are our bad choices — thoughts, words, and deeds. Don’t be talked into anything. Think this through.

The life of Harry Truman is worth studying. His choice to drop atomic bombs on Japan — embraced in his time but controversial in ours — is a prime example of the remoteness of observers warping value judgments.

Why Vice is Nice

Let’s get this out of the way — vice is easier than virtue. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Go along to get along, and all that.

But vice is worse for us in the broader sense; its erosion of character is often uglier than any obvious external manifestation of our choices. Virtue can hurt, but it ennobles us and leads to a kind of thriving — eudaimonia — that makes the pain bearable.

This isn’t just a Stoic thing — Christian, Buddhist, and Utilitarian morality also leads us into painful circumstances if we follow their dictates to the letter. We might fail to live up to our values because the demands are steep.

I haven’t met any saints or sages that don’t compromise, and I’m certainly not perfectly virtuous. But I try to find the places where I have some leverage, some ability to do actual good, and put my focus there. I don’t waste energy on the places where I have little leverage.

If you decide leaving your job is the right thing to do but can’t because you have to support your family, the virtuous thing isn’t doing nothing, but going after the next best option. Where can you move the needle on this at all?

What Are You Worth?

One of Epictetus’s lines echoes through my mind when making these decisions:

“Consider at what price you sell your integrity; but please, for God's sake, don't sell cheap.¹”

That’s a pretty good starting place for us all.

If you’re no sage, like me, then you’ll sometimes compromise and sell your integrity. The real question is, what price will you collect for it?

Personally, I’m going to get top dollar. Anything else just is just an insult.

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1. Epictetus, Discourses, 1.2.33