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Obligated To Obey Unjust Laws Essay

870 Words4 Pages

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 …show more content…

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

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