Autonomous weapons systems and the necessity of interpretation: what Heidegger can tell us about automated warfare

Despite resistance from various societal actors, the development and deployment of lethal autonomous weaponry to warzones is perhaps likely, considering the perceived operational and ethical advantage such weapons are purported to bring. In this paper, it is argued that the deployment of truly autonomous weaponry presents an ethical danger by calling into question the ability of such weapons to abide by the Laws of War. This is done by noting the resonances between battlefield target identification and the process of ontic-ontological investigation detailed in Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, before arguing that the nature of lethal autonomous weaponry precludes them from being able to engage in such investigations-a key requisite for abiding by the relevant legislation that governs battlefield conduct.