Individual presentation:
• Rafael Triana:
Virtue in Violence: The Moral Foundations of Military Character
(60 min)

Abstract:

This presentation develops a consilient framework for understanding virtue, violence, and the formation of military character by integrating insights from virtue ethics, moral psychology, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, evolutionary theory, and civil–military studies. The analysis begins with the paradox that civilized societies require individuals capable of disciplined violence for their protection while simultaneously fearing the moral dangers violence creates. Drawing on the work of Thomas Sowell, Steven Pinker, Jonathan Haidt, Roy Baumeister, James Coan, Philip Zimbardo, Sigmund Freud, and Samuel P. Huntington, the paper argues that human beings are neither naturally peaceful nor purely rational, but morally ambivalent creatures whose aggressive and prosocial capacities coexist as evolved potentials.

Rather than asking why violence exists, the paper reframes the central moral problem as how violence is constrained through habituation, self-regulation, social cohesion, and institutional moral formation. Military training is examined as a structured system of virtue cultivation in which discipline, attachment, unit cohesion, accountability, and rules of engagement channel aggression into regulated forms of courage, restraint, and collective service. The concept of a “Warrior Moral Ecosystem” is introduced to describe the relational and institutional structures that sustain moral identity under conditions of extreme stress.

The presentation further argues that contemporary findings in moral psychology and neuroscience provide higher-order evidential support for virtue-ethical approaches to military morality by demonstrating that moral judgment is socially embedded, emotionally structured, and dependent upon habituated forms of self-regulation rather than abstract rational deliberation alone. The result is an interdisciplinary account of military character that situates virtue not as idealized moral perfection, but as the disciplined regulation of destructive human potentials in service of civilization and democratic order.”

Presented by a Marine reconnaissance Vietnam veteran and psychoanalyst at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, this work bridges lived experience (Phronesis) and interdisciplinary scholarship to deepen understanding of moral formation, cohesion, and the enduring psychological imprint of military service.

Keywords: cohesion, consilience, heroism science, military character, moral foundations, neurobiology, psychohistory, virtue

Short Bio:

Dr. Triana, a Marine Reconnaissance Viet Nam veteran with a Bronze Star for meritorious leadership in combat (60 missions), is a psychoanalyst on the University of Virginia Medical faculty, an advocate for ROTC programs, cultivating Civic Virtue, military values and culture and a former panelist for The Theater of War project.

After a 35-year tenure at the University of Virginia, Dr. Triana retired from the faculty in 2021. During his time at the university, he served in numerous capacities, including Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, Senior Staff Clinician in Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) within the Department of Student Health and Wellness, Division Head of Mental Health Services, and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services.

Dr. Triana’s extensive teaching and supervisory roles reflect a longstanding commitment to education and mentorship. At CAPS, he led a wide range of seminars and provided supervision for psychology and social work interns, as well as post‑doctoral fellows. He taught first‑year medical students in the Practice of Medicine course and, within the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, supervised and offered seminars for PGY‑III and PGY‑IV residents. In addition, he provided continuing education units (CEUs) for mental health clinicians and supervised first‑ and second‑year candidates in the China‑America Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA) training program via tele‑video.

The theoretical foundations of his teaching drew on the convergence of psychology, contemporary neuro‑psychoanalytic theory, and neuroscience research, integrating these perspectives into a cohesive and clinically grounded approach. He can be reached at .