The Duty to Obey the Law Selected Philosophical Readings

by Edmundson, William A.; Green, Leslie; Greenawalt, Kent; Hirschmann, Nancy J.; Klosko, George; Murphy, Mark C.; Rawls, John; Raz, Joseph; Sartorius, Rolf; Simmons, A John; Smith, M.B.E; Soper, Philip; Waldron, Jeremy; Wasserstrom, Richard A.; Wolff, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780847692545
• ISBN10: 084769254X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-12-23
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(16)
William A. Edmundson
1 The Obligation to Obey the Law	17	(32)
Richard A. Wasserstrom
2 The Justification of Civil Disobedience	49	(14)
John Rawls
3 The Conflict between Authority and Autonomy	63	(12)
Robert Paul Wolff
4 Is There a Prima Facie Obligation to Obey the Law?	75	(32)
M.B.E. Smith
5 The Principle of Fair Play	107	(36)
A. John Simmons
6 Political Authority and Political Obligation	143	(16)
Rolf Sartorius
7 The Obligation to Obey: Revision and Tradition	159	(18)
Joseph Raz
8 Legitimate Authority and the Duty to Obey	177	(16)
Kent Greenawalt
9 Presumptive Benefit, Fairness, and Political Obligation	193	(20)
George Klosko
10 Legal Theory and the Claim of Authority	213	(30)
Philip Soper
11 Freedom, Recognition, and Obligation: A Feminist Approach to Political Theory	243	(28)
Nancy J. Hirschmann
12 Special Ties and Natural Duties	271	(30)
Jeremy Waldron
13 Who Believes in Political Obligation?	301	(18)
Leslie Green
14 Surrender of Judgment and the Consent Theory of Political Authority	319	(28)
Mark C. Murphy
Index	347	(4)
About the Contributors	351