Should We Obey Law?

One question most people ask is, why should I obey the law? The most obvious reason is to avoid punishment, because most people are afraid of the consequences that come with disobeying the law. However, is there a moral obligation to do what the law says just because the law requires it? A discussion on what it means to be politically obligated, civil disobedience, when it’s ever justified to not obey the law and theories by philosophers will be presented.

During the first 10 years of our lives, most of us were always taught to follow the rules, and listen to higher authority, otherwise we will face punishment, and as we went into our adolescent phase, we were still taught those fundamental principles, but it got to a point where following

The puzzle that is raised here is should the fact that the state provides citizens with all those services make them feel obligated to obey the states laws? The great thinker Socrates believes that because the state has made his entire way of life and existence possible, he should obey its laws. If you contextualize what he is saying, you can create a picture in your head that because the state allowed my mother and father to marry each other, which therefore leads to having legitimate children under the state, and because my birth was made possible by the hospital that the state provided and because the state provided me with good education, I should pay the state back by obeying their laws. Socrates argues that our political obligations are just part of our natural duties to be good people. He made a further argument on how he believed he had gained from being a citizen of the state and this is known as a reciprocation theory of political obligation. “Our political obligation arises as a way of us being able to give back something to society (to reciprocate) because we have received or accepted certain benefits provided by our states, government or fellow citizens” (Simmons, 2002:33). Simmons makes a good point on a reciprocation theory, but the problem with his statement is that does this apply to everyone? And because we get benefits from living in a

H, 1976:250). The consent theory says that the authority to rule, the legitimacy of rule and our obligation to obey legitimate authority comes from the fact that we have given our consent to be ruled in this way. You agreed to obey the law and support the state by some statement or action you took, by not disagreeing to the law, you gave your consent thus giving political obligation. The puzzle that is raised here is, what counts as consent? Direct consent is consent rising from an actual act, like signing a contract or making an oath. Contact theorist, John Locke believes that by directly coercing ourselves to a political authority, we have given our consent to abide by that authority’s rules. We cannot become obliged through coercion without knowing it, therefore we have consciously decided to undertake a moral