The Duty to Obey the Law: Selected Philosophical Readings / Edition 1

by William A. Edmundson, Leslie Green, Kent Greenawalt, Nancy J. Hirschmann, George Klosko University of Virginia

Overview

The question, 'Why should I obey the law?' introduces a contemporary puzzle that is as old as philosophy itself. The puzzle is especially troublesome if we think of cases in which breaking the law is not otherwise wrongful, and in which the chances of getting caught are negligible. Philosophers from Socrates to H.L.A. Hart have struggled to give reasoned support to the idea that we do have a general moral duty to obey the law but, more recently, the greater number of learned voices has expressed doubt that there is any such duty, at least as traditionally conceived. The thought that there is no such duty poses a challenge to our ordinary understanding of political authority and its legitimacy. In what sense can political officials have a right to rule us if there is no duty to obey the laws they lay down? Some thinkers, concluding that a general duty to obey the law cannot be defended, have gone so far as to embrace philosophical anarchism, the view that the state is necessarily illegitimate. Others argue that the duty to obey the law can be grounded on the idea of consent, or on fairness, or on other ideas, such as community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847692552
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/23/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	362
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

William A. Edmundson is professor at Georgia State University College of Law. He is the author of Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority (1998, Cambridge University Press).

Table of Contents

Part 1 Acknowledgments Part 2 Introduction Chapter 3 1 The Obligation to Obey the Law Chapter 4 2 The Justification of Civil Disobedience Chapter 5 3 The Conflict between Authority and Autonomy Chapter 6 4 Is There a Prima Facie Obligation to Obey the Law? Chapter 7 5 The Principle of Fair Play Chapter 8 6 Political Authority and Political Obligation Chapter 9 7 The Obligation to Obey: Revision and Tradition Chapter 10 8 Legitimate Authority and the Duty to Obey Chapter 11 9 Presumptive Benefit, Fairness, and Political Obligation Chapter 12 10 Legal Theory and the Claim of Authority Chapter 13 11 Freedom, Recognition, and Obligation: A Feminist Approach to Political Theory Chapter 14 12 Special Ties and Natural Duties Chapter 15 13 Who Believes in Political Obligation? Chapter 16 14 Surrender of Judgment and the Consent Theory of Political Authority Part 17 Index

Editorial Reviews

Edmundson's anthology is full of well-selected readings that define the range of the problem in its most current incarnation. His contributions and summaries are insightful and will promote valuable discussion.

Philosophy in Review

This volume brings together the most important recent work on the question of political obligation. It is an excellent collection of the central work in the field...

Ethics: An International Journal of Social

This volume brings together the most important recent work on the question of political obligation. It is an excellent collection of the central work in the field...

Ethics: An International Journal of Social

This volume brings together the most important recent work on the question of political obligation. It is an excellent collection of the central work in the field...

Ethics

The question of why the law should be obeyed introduces a philosophical puzzle going back to antiquity. The controversy today is as spirited as ever, and involves scholars from the diverse fields of philosophy, law, government, political science, and sociology. This anthology presents 14 contributions representing recent work on the subject, presented in the order in which they were written, beginning with Richard Wasserstrom's 1963 piece, "The Obligation to Obey the Law" written during the period of the Freedom Rides in the American South and ending with Mark Murphy's 1997 effort to use consent theory to ground the duty to obey the law. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews