"Why should I obey the law?"
This is a question raised in the lecture today and a question that I have asked myself before, most recently whilst the riots were taking place in the summer. I believe that one of the main reasons why most people obey the law is because of fear, the fear of what will happen if they break the law. Obviously, no one particularly wants to go to prison (unless you get treated like Mr Bridger), but why don't people drive at 15 or 20 mph faster all the time and run the risk of getting a fine from PC Plod? All I can put it down to is fear. They're scared of being caught, I'm not condoning speeding, but I have never understood why most people seem to follow the speed limits.
It's not just speeding, it other things like shoplifting and breaking and entering (like we saw in the summer), why don't we see people breaking into shops and nicking shoes or TVs all the time? In this day and age, if you want something, you get it. So why haven't we seen rioting and looting like that before? Fear.
Here's some philosophy to explain this.
Plato's Crito
Coming back to Socrates' death, his friend Crito tried to persuade him to escape or to bribe the prison guards.
Socrates introduced the idea of a covenant or a contract between him (as a citizen) and the state. He thought that you implicitly agree to following the laws if you're part of society - if you take a advantage of what society offers, you have to accept society's consequences if you do something illegal. He also said that if you break the law, then you are trying to destroy society. Then what happens if everyone did it?
Social Contract and Hobbes
'The Leviathan' by Hobbes - a monster of unstoppable power that was the ruler of the military and religion.
Hobbes believed that we are at constant war and it is all versus all. "No arts, no letters, no society...continual fear...life of man; solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short".
The state is explicitly a war machine - organised for war against subjects who resist the law or for war against other states. Hobbes sets limits on the sovereign's power.
Locke - Treatise of Government.
First treatise - it attacks the concept of 'Divine Right of Kings' - this is the doctrine that states that kings get their power/authority from God.
This first treatise also says that God gave Adam the right to rule.
Second treatise - everyone enjoys freedom but obey the natural laws - these are laws that we know intuitively e.g. it is wrong to kill another person.
Locke proposed his ideas of government (by consent): laws keep the government away and at arms length but they can interfere when they have to e.g. when a law is broken.
Taxes couldn't be levied if the people didn't consent - that would be great now!
Citizens could rebel; if the government didn't respect law.
Rousseau (just jumped about 100 years!)
He talked about 'the conflict between obedience to the state and freedom'.
He also said that people have to be part of the legislature of society if they want to be part of society (similar to Socrates).
In short; Hobbes wrote about 'the collapse of society/state'.
Locke wrote about 'the collaborative state'.
Rousseau wrote about 'the state of freedom'.
Plato's Republic - 3 main ideas (I think Plato could either be my friend or enemy after this semester!)
The Cave - explained here
Utopian World - he said that there are actually two worlds, this world, which is not perfect and the perfect world. Here is an example: the chair I am sitting on is just a shadow (or form) in this imperfect world, but in the perfect world - the chair is the real deal, the real McCoy. However, the 'shadow' chair is just a replica of the one in the perfect world.
The Soul - reason, spirit and desire.
Reason - we know the about the forms etc...
Spirit - this is courage, aggression and ferocity
Desire - cravings - one desire leads to another.
Plato figured that if there were 3 parts to the soul, there must be 3 types of states:
Spirit - an aggressive and military driven society.
Desire - a democratic society obsessed with money. It included everyone who wasn't philosophical or military minded.
Reason - dominated by reasoning and philosophy. This is the perfect world.
Machiavelli - started the concept of political science.
'How do we get power?'
Wrote the book 'The Prince'.
He set out some 'rules':
- In conflict, support the weaker side because when the war is over you will
be the dominant force.
- Centralised regimes are hard to break down, but are easy to keep hold of when you do break one down.
- Armed prophets win, unarmed one always fail.
- 'Cruelty versus clemency' - If clemency leads to lawlessness, cruelty is inevitable.
- Don't take a person's property, but kill their family. 'People forget the loss of family quicker than the loss of their inheritance'.
TB 2011
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