Just Restraint: Virtue Ethics for Nuclear Deterrence and Artificial Intelligence

What does moral formation have to do with nuclear strategy or artificial intelligence? Everything — if you believe that power without virtue produces dangerous outcomes for human civilization. This paper develops an applied ethics framework for governing technologies of unprecedented reach. Drawing on the Catholic moral tradition and virtue ethics, it argues that the capacity for restraint — understood not as weakness but as the disciplined ordering of power toward truth and the common good — is the essential and underdeveloped virtue for leaders navigating nuclear deterrence, cyberwarfare, and AI governance. The argument is practical, not merely theoretical: institutions and individuals who wield consequential power require moral formation, not just technical competence. The decisions that shape the future of AI and nuclear policy will be made by leaders. What forms those leaders matters. Written for a broad audience at the intersection of ethics, technology policy, and civic leadership.