Today, I'm speaking with Dr Pauline Shanks Kaurin who is a Professor of Professional Military Ethics at the US Naval War College where she specialises in military ethics, just war tradition and applied ethics.

She is the author of ‘On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for Military, Citizenry and Community’, which is a book we discussed today. As you will find out, the subject matter this book addresses goes to the core of what it means to be a soldier and to be a citizen. Some of the topics we covered are:

Military ethics as the link between international relations and philosophy
Defining obedience
Discussion on ‘choice’ and moral responsibility
Impact of mis- and disinformation on agency
Trump, ‘Oath Keepers’ and obedience
How bias and heuristics impact responsibility
The cases of Ehren Watada and Stuart Schiller
The idea of ‘disciplined disobedience’
When epistemological worlds collide
Training for ‘critical obedience’

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75. Dr Pauline Shanks Kaurin - On obedience and the fine line between hero and villain