Are we obligated to obey unjust laws? Laws are important because they are guidelines for a state. Without laws citizens would not know how to act and cause harm to others. Laws are aimed at common good and keep a society together and functioning. States have laws to maintain peace and safety among people and provide ways to resolve issues that arise among individuals. As a citizen of a state you are expected to obey all laws. An environment without laws will cause the typical exercises of life to be affected by the chaos. In Plato’s book, Crito, Socrates believes you should always obey the law. You are obligated to obey unjust laws because you tacitly agree to obey the laws, people have different opinions what is just or unjust, and there are many consequences when disobeying a law.
Living in state, you give a tacit consent to obey the state by accepting the benefits given to you. Although it is not written or verbalized, this could be considered a contract. When you disobey the law you break the agreement and causing harm to the state. As stated by Socrates, the state has given their citizens education, freedom to vote, and many other benefits, so the citizens should obey the laws
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One reason is if you obey an unjust law, then you are unjust yourself. This is invalid given that disobeying any law makes you unjust. Also, Socrates explains to Crito that what the majority thinks “cannot make a man either wise or foolish, but they inflict things haphazardly” (Crito 47). What the majority thinks is not always the right thing. People are influenced by others who disobey the law which can eventually lead up to anarchy, so why would you want to disobey a law? To say that if you are following an unjust law makes you unjust, it is based by your opinion. People have different meanings of what is just or unjust, thus we cannot determine whether a law is just or
The laws are suppose to protect the society and its people, yet when the order of the government turns corrupt, then the validity of everything is at stake. As one can see, the corrupt laws placed Socrates in prison and he chose to abide by the impartial laws in order to be consistent and loyal to the
Laws can easily be differentiated on whether they are, or are not, just by checking if it follows certain guidelines told by Martin Luther King. In addition, if the laws are don't obey the set principles, then they end up harshly influencing people. King specifically stated the definition of an unjust law in the text, “An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” (pg. 29, par. 16). He explains that a unjust law morally is incorrect, and shouldn't be followed as it doesn't help put the community.
Is it better to follow laws that are unjust but right, or do the thing that is fair but are against the law? Socrates in Plato’s “The Crito” and Martin Luther King, Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” answer this question from conflicting perspectives. According to Plato (427-423 BCE), Socrates believed that it is his duty to obey the law of his city, Athens, on all occasions, whereas King (1963) made the argument first put forth by St. Thomas Aquinas that “an unjust law is no law at all” (p. 69). One of these reasons for the differing opinions on this subject is due to the times and places in which these two men existed and came to their views on Civil disobedience.
Socrates compares the relationship between a citizen and a city to that of a child and a parent. Athens has nurtured Socrates in body and mind, given him an ideal environment to raise his own children in, to give him a platform to exhort people to be virtuous (Crito, 51a). As any child benefits from the protections and provisions of a parent, he must also obey the parent when it requires something of him. So, Socrates considers it his civic duty to obey Athens wishes since he has benefited from his citizenship. Socrates reaches a conclusion that defies a common-sense understanding of
My Standpoint Civil Disobedience is an effective method of change that has been used throughout history against unjust laws. “Antigone” The story of “Antigone” uses this idea of civil disobedience through Antigone who defies the law given by her new king. As Creon starts off his first day of work he is emotional due to the loss of his eldest son. Because Creon is so emotional, he states that the person who brought war to the land causing his eldest son’s death, shall not be buried.
INTRODUCTION: Open your argument to the audience and give them reason to listen on. I. Hook (Opening Statement): Get your audience’s attention! Consider a quote from the story. Are there any circumstances in which the law should be ignored?
Rule of law is essentially the shared values of a people. Rule of law also means that no matter who you are Prime Minister, richest man/woman on the planet, or the most famous person alive the law is no different and that is where the whole concept of justice is blind comes
One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” (MLK). An example would be gay rights laws. For much of time it has been illegal for people of the same sex to marry one another. Although this is a law, many people and even the United States Constitutional courts ruled that two people of the same sex should share the same right as anyone else to be able to share a love together and establish a bond such as marriage.
Preserving the value of laws was critical to Socrates, for he believed that if he broke this one law it would cause harm to the rest of the laws. His actions would then result in the downfall of the judicial system and government. One analogy that really allows clarity for this is that Laws are like money; the value of which is not their actual worth, but the worth given to them by the people. We believe that money is valuable even though its physical worth is essentially nonexistent. Laws only have meaning because the people within society give them meaning.
Political activists and philosophers alike have a challenging task of determining the conditions under which citizens are morally entitled to go against the law. Socrates and Martin Luther King, Jr. had different opinions on the obligation of the citizens in a society to obey the law. Although they were willing to accept the legal punishment, King believed that there are clear and definable circumstances where it would be appropriate, and sometimes mandatory, to purposely disobey unjust laws. Socrates did not. Socrates obeyed what he considered to be an unjust verdict because he believed that it was his obligation, as a citizen of Athens, to persuade or obey its Laws, no matter how dire the consequences.
The relationship between the law and society affects everyone and everything. How the law is written and how it is acted upon in society are two different things. It is imperative, therefore, that we as citizens pay attention to and understand the importance of the relationship between the law and society as it affects both our own lives and the lives of those around us. We engage in and witness the power of the law and society everyday. The law is personal, however, the law is also discretionary depending on where you look.
The laws stand as a basic understanding of right from wrong and allowed civilizations to keep the most peace among their people as they
King addresses the characteristics of unjust laws in 3 points. First point being that just laws are always harmonious with natural morale law. Second point being that a just law is one that uplifts human personality as opposed to degrading human personality. Lastly, a just law can only be created in the most democratic manner possible and if it is not, the minority automatically has the right to disobey the law because they had no say in the creation of the law. As for the first point, a natural morale law must be measured by our natural human sense.
In some case there are some facts which work against law. So does it imply that law is wrong? There are some arguments related to this theory: The Gratitude Argument: We have to obey the law because we are obligated to be grateful to the government because of the good things it does for us, and obeying the law is the best way of showing our gratitude.
What I will explain to you in this article will, how we are connected with the law and I hope, make you see sense in the importance of our laws in the society we live in. To be against the importance of laws in our society would show one to be ignorant and naïve. I encounter the law on a daily basis when I am driving. I have to follow the speed limit of each road, I have to signal before changing lanes, my vehicle must be in good condition in order to safely drive and I must obey all road signs as they are set in place to ensure the safety of everybody.