Peter Kropotkin: Disagrees with the statement, seems to be a relativist but this is unclear. Anarchist., Law shifts our individual responsibility to the government so that we lose the power to think for ourselves, Laws exist only to protect the property and privilege of the rich and upper-classes, Law is useless and damaging because I reinforces obedience, judgement and authority to punish – these are not good things, People think that law is necessary to keep society secure, but if we got rid of property, crime would no longer be an issue, The death penalty does not deter murderers – they will still kill. However, getting rid of the death penalty lowers the murder-rate., Criminals should not be punished by law – they commit crime because they are in an unfortunate situation – they need care and support, John Rawls: More modern social contract: if you benefit from the state, you must obey the laws of the state., Fair play – It is not fair for you to gain an advantage by breaking a law if everyone else follows it, Based on the concept of justice rather than the letter of the law. You couldn’t look for loopholes in the law to exploit it – this is unjust., If the law does not take advantage of you or force you to follow claims that you don’t believe, it is fair., If you accept that the law is fair, you have a duty to the other people who follow the law, to live by the same rules they do, It is unfair to enjoy the benefits of a law but do not do your duty by upholding it (EG, tax-dodging), Law is just when it supports the interests of the people it serves, even if it means they have to give up some of their freedoms to follow it., Absolutist about justice, agrees with the statement. Could also be culturally relative, because it is about agreeing to play by the rules of the country you are in., Democracy sometimes means there will be unjust laws, but sine we benefit from democracy, we should follow these laws as well., Socrates (in Plato's 'Crito'): Justice of the law in general outweighs the injustice of one unjust law or judgement, Realist, absolutist. Agrees with the statement, Ancient social contract: if you benefit from the state, you must obey the laws of the state., If you want to change the law, you have to do it within the law, You must accept the decisions of the courts, even if it means you have to die., The consequences of ignoring the law would be a social catastrophe, If the law is unjust and also forbids you from leaving the country, you can break this one law and leave the country., Martin Luther King Jr.: Disagrees with the statement, seems to be absolutist about justice. Not culturally relativist because you should disobey laws which oppress the minority., A just law is one which the majority makes and follow themselves. The minority (who disagree with it) then follow it too. An unjust law is when different treatment for the majority and minority is made legal., Someone who disobeys the law because his conscience tells him the law is unjust “…and who is willing to accept the penalty by staying in jail until that law is altered, is expressing… the very highest respect for the law.”, Henry David Thoreau: Absolutist about justice, disagrees with the statement. If the law “requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.”, Calls on people to be just, not to be governed., The government can help things work smoothly, but it can also hold things back. It has been chosen y the people, but it can be unjust., If the law asks you to act unjustly, you should break it. The individual conscience is a higher power than the authority of government, We don’t have majority rule because it is more likely to be right than the minority, nor because it is fairer. We have majority rule because the majority is physically stronger than the minority., Conscience should decide right and wrong, not the majority, We should be “men first, and subjects afterwards”, We should not respect the law, we should respect what is right., The law can force you to act against your conscience and this is wrong. (EG conscription in a war.) We are not machines to serve the government, we are humans., Sometimes you have to act against the government, if it wants you to be part of an injustice. It will be painful if the government resists, but it should listen to the voices of its citizens.,

2 - Civil Disobedience sorting

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