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John stuart mill essay on liberty
John stuart mill essay on liberty
John stuart mill essay on liberty
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John Stuart mill wrote on liberty which basically was about freedom and that what majority says is right. Since we don’t live in a perfect world we often have laws that are unjust. Many civil activists believe that not only it is our right but it is our obligation to disobey unjust laws. The question that rises is where this freedom comes from? These civil activists believe that we have god given rights that no one can take away. Laws that unjust and interfere with our rights should not be obeyed. There are also those that believe laws must be obeyed whether they are just or unjust. Socrates is among those who believe that we should obey laws even if they are unjust. In apology Socrates tells Crito those laws are the laws that raised him that gave him education and what not. Vladimir Trivinakilyn was a Russian citizen during the Stalin regime. Vladimir believed that laws were meant to protect people not harm them and even if there were laws that were hurting people they should deal with it. “If today we break laws we don’t like than tomorrow that could result in breaking all the laws”. “Laws are made by civilized people and any civilized person knows that they should follow laws regardless of what happens”. These are just some of the quotes used by people who have opposing views with those who believe that we have right to disobey unjust full laws. On March 2009 Jake Natterson and Ryan Pelosi have a debate concerning laws. Natterson: Like all the civil activists I agree that it is our right and obligation to disobey unjust laws. Pelosi: Laws are here to keep us civilized. Natterson: What are your views are unjust? And I do have an answer for your “laws are for civilized people” The animals don’t have laws and yet they manage t... ... middle of paper ... ...people are in. this won’t satisfy the questions because we still face the dilemma of rather laws that we don’t like should be followed. Than we have the invisible theory which still does not solve the problem. So what is going to satisfy our problem? Rights theory seems to answer our problem. Rights theory states that laws should be kept if everyone agrees with them. Rights theory also states that we should have a contract, a contract that allows us to live in harmony. For example if x wants to live in peace x should cooperate with the others and the best way to do that is to have laws that will allow that. We came across some interesting ideas and theories. Laws and social rights continue to be a big debate. When it comes to these topics there are a lot of factors we have to take into consideration. Hopefully one day we will have a solution to these problems.
Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau each write exemplary persuasive essays that depict social injustice and discuss civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with the law in order to prove a point. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King speaks to a specific audience: the African Americans, and discusses why he feels they should bring an end to segregation. Thoreau on the other hand, in “Civil Disobedience,” speaks to a broader, non-addressed audience as he largely expresses his feelings towards what he feels is an unjust government. Both essays however, focus on the mutual topics of morality and justice and use these topics to inform and motivate their audience to, at times, defy the government in order to establish the necessary justice.
Justice is often misconceived as injustice, and thus some essential matters that require more legal attentions than the others are neglected; ergo, some individuals aim to change that. The principles of civil disobedience, which are advocated in both “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. to the society, is present up to this time in the U.S. for that purpose.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a prime example of this act of disobedience, and said, “The end justifies the means, even though the means are regrettable.” He however did not question the legitimacy of the American government but rather the particular laws that he and others felt were unjust. The civil rights movement was started by Dr. King, in which he found that it would be against
In his famous essay, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,’’ Martin Luther King, Jr. cites conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and defying unjust laws. In the same way, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” that people should do what their conscience tells them and not obey unjust laws. The positions of the two writers are very close; they use a common theme of conscience, and they use a similar rhetorical appeal of ethos.
make a person think that not all laws are good for the group in society and
The act of civil disobedience existed for a long time, dating back to the Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and early Christians. The height of the civil rights movement was the 1950’s to 1960’s. During this time period, many activists fought for racial equality and rights. Civil disobedience was practiced by these people who fought for racial equality and rights. Martin Luther King Jr. and Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mocking Bird used civil disobedience as an act of fighting back against injustice in order for a better society. These two people, Martin Luther King Jr. and Atticus Finch, of the time of the 20th century practiced civil disobedience in the name of justice.
Civil Disobedience makes governments more accountable for their actions and has been an important catalyst for overcoming unpopular government policies. To voice his disgust with slavery, in 1849 Henry David Thoreau published his essay, Civil Disobedience, arguing that citizens must not allow their government to override their principles and have a civic duty to prevent their government from using unjust means to ends. The basis for Thoreau’s monumental essay was his refusal to pay a poll tax, which subsequently landed him a night in county jail. In his passage: “If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine...
Carl et al. (2011, p. 119) suggests that there are two primary models as to how laws were created (i) the consensus (ii) conflict models. While the consensus model of law suggests that laws arise when people witness behaviours that they do not approve of, therefore agreeing to make that behaviour illegal (Carl et al., 2011, p. 119). The conflict model
Laws are structured and implemented to benefit the masses. Unfortunately this objective is not always achieved. The constitution of the states is considered the best work of law yet it is unable to save the life of a child. Clearly the problem of violence is turning more into a socio-cultural and psychological problem than a legal one. However laws still need to be implemented justly in order to preserve the freedom and rights of me...
... everyone else. Laws which were created as guidelines for a better, safer, and happier community. Just like laws were there in even the earliest of civilizations they will be there for generations to come.
In every society around the world, the law is affecting everyone since it shapes the behavior and sense of right and wrong for every citizen in society. Laws are meant to control a society’s behavior by outlining the accepted forms of conduct. The law is designed as a neutral aspect existent to solve society’s problems, a system specially designed to provide people with peace and order. The legal system runs more efficiently when people understand the laws they are intended to follow along with their legal rights and responsibilities.
In the past in this country, Thoreau wrote an essay on Civil disobedience saying that people make the law and have a right to disobey unjust laws, to try and get those laws changed.
One type of analytical perspective is the conflict perspective which is the belief that conflict is fundamental and social life and cannot ever be resolved completely. Where laws are tools used by the powerful to keep others and check and keep themselves in power. Law enforcements of social control simply keep those who are not powerful in check with the laws established by those in power. The pluralist perspective believes that within a complex society every different social group will have their own set beliefs, values, and interests. Despite these differences most groups will agree that laws are beneficial. For this perspective laws are a peacekeeping tool for officials to settle disputes amongst society. It is assumed that all parties will agree with the settlement as it agrees with society’s views that law is a fundamental part of settling disputes. Another perspective is the consensus perspective, in which most of society agrees on what is wrong and right and various elements of society work...
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “There are two types of laws: there are just and there are unjust laws” (King 293). During his time as civil rights leader, he advocated civil disobedience to fight the unjust laws against African-Americans in America. For instance, there was no punishment for the beatings imposed upon African-Americans or for the burning of their houses despite their blatant violent, criminal, and immoral demeanor. Yet, an African-American could be sentenced to jail for a passive disagreement with a white person such as not wanting to give up their seat to a white passenger on a public bus. Although these unjust laws have been righted, Americans still face other unjust laws in the twenty-first century.
However, it is based on the natural human values which we all, Americans, Kabulistanis, British, Russian…etc, share. As Locke and Hobbes famously shared, every single human being is selfish to a certain degree. The reason we have been forming societies around the world and living right next to each other is not that we have lost our senses of selfishness. Rather, we have grown to learn that we cannot achieve a harmony and a peace individually, so we have agreed to put down our natural selfishness and to cooperate with each other to achieve those two necessities. If we are able to live and defend ourselves perfectly from any unwanted external influences individually, no man would be living within a fenced and limited society. Selfishness is a virtue we cannot fix. Therefore we need to construct a system of government that will limit harms resulted from our innate feature. A government plays a crucial role of carrying out necessary duties and judging who is right and who is wrong as most objectively as possible. Furthermore, Locke mentions another flaw with the human natures: bias. Not all cases in our world can be clearly determined as right or wrong by the laws alone. Each situation almost always does need an interpretation, and someone has to determine how the law will be applied, if necessary. Humans are not immune against subjective feelings: a single or