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

The Voices of War

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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