Disobedience Vs Obedience

Civil disobedience is defined as the “refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in government policy or legislation, characterized by nonviolent means”; theories on this topic have been debated for centuries. (American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Edition pg161) Henry David Thoreau was well known for his refusal to participate in the political systems or activities of his era, not only by refusing to pay his poll taxes for six consecutive years, but also by announcing that he did not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated society. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau stresses the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. A person should not be obligated to devote his or her life to eliminating evils from the world, but is only obligated not to participate in such evils themselves. He argues that the government rarely proves itself useful and this derives from the power from the majority because they are the strongest group, not because they hold the most legitimate views. Justice is the quality of being just, impartial or fair. Thoreau doubted the effectiveness of reform within the government, and argued that voting and petitioning for change served useless. He felt that justice had different standards for each different group. Which raises the question, is justice fair for everyone? When a government is unjust, people should

Through a veil of lies man obeys the State, the Church, the mass opinions of their peers, or any other organization that they view to be in power. This affords him a false sense of safety and protection. In his obedience, man feels strong allowing him to be controlled by the fear of being isolated or having undesirable repercussions greet him as a result of any disobedience. Throughout history it has been evident that, for the most part, the few in power have ruled over the majority. The foundation of this relationship has been “the few” equating obedience with virtue and disobedience with sin, resulting in man not only needing to obey, but wanting to obey. Man’s inability to see that he has lost his ability to disobey and stand up for what he believes and values, instead of what he has been brainwashed to believe and

Despite disobedience, the people still had access to God whenever and wherever they wanted. Not only was the tabernacle always with them in the land but the temple was also built. The greatest truth, however, is that God does not live in buildings made by human hands. Sadly, access to God was

Prompt: To what extent will people ignore their consciences to obey the orders of authority?

When training a dog, the master’s goal is to have to have the dog fulfill the commands given, and when obedient the dog is rewarded. However, when the dog is disobedient and does not obey the commands the dog is not rewarded. Fromm’s article analyses how people are obedient and disobedient, just like the dog. In “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst, philosopher, historian and sociologist, claims that social antiquity began with an act of disobedience and possibly will end with an act of obedience. Fromm studies the difference between obedience and disobedience.

Obedience is a basic part in the structure of society, and its belligerence has often been taken into question throughout time. Stanley Milgram, a Yale University psychologist, tested the conflict between obedience to authority and one's own conscience and documented the surprising results in "Peril's of Obedience”. Throughout the experiment, Milgram discovered that most people would go against their own personal morals of what is right from wrong in order to comply to the orders of authority.

Milgram’s Obedience Experiment has influenced and inspired many experiments in the decades following the original study done in 1962. Moral psychologists, social psychologists, and sociologists have considered how different characteristics affect how the individual responds to authority: Does a group setting make a difference? Are certain personality traits an indicator of rebellion? Will the type of authority influence the willingness of a participant to obey? These questions have been explored through various studies. However, many experimenters are trying to uncover the circumstances under which a participant will perform immoral

Out of all the topics we have gone over the course of this class, obedience fascinates me the most. It is perplexing, thought provoking, and morally confusing. Obedience is paramount to the structure of our society yet stories of destructive obedience haunt us. From the atrocities of the Holocaust to the massacres in Vietnam we glimpse at the horrors humans are capable of. All the while, perpetrators vindicate their actions with relative ease. The justification for every genocide, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing; 'I was merely ordered.” Us average civilians will likely take solace in the belief we would never commit such crimes. However, in 1964, Stanley Milgram tore down that façade with his landmark paper The Perils of Obedience. Milgram showed that a majority of average people will do horrific things if commanded by an authoritative figure.

Obedience plays a vital role in everyday life; it is an expectation for people to obey authority, obedience is entrenched in most cultures and it is a part of the society. People exercise their authority through issuing orders or command to people in less authority. For example, in the homes; parents expect obedience from their children, in schools; students are expected to obey their teachers, same is expected in religions, workplace. In the work place a boss will command an employee to carry out an order or face being dismissed, the boss is utilizing his/her position to force the employee to act against his/her wish.

Obedience is a powerful tool that must be scrutinized in all instances. In fact, Fromm argues, “disobedience is as great a virtue as

According to (Herrera, 2001) many people that participated in the Milgram obedience study found that they were more prone to being obedient to authority figures than to follow their own intuition. Some individuals are aware of their actions and mentally and emotionally knowingly what they are doing is ethically wrong but chooses to follow protocol

Obedience is practiced everyday throughout everyone 's life. It has been engraved in everyone growing up. Students are taught at an early age to obey the higher authority’s commands in school, at home, and in public whether it is the teacher, principal, police officer, and even other parents. Additionally, parents too have to practice obedience. They must be follow orders from their bosses, and they must obey the laws. As a result, obedience becomes second nature, which exposes everyone to problems. The problems are unknown to everyone because being obedience appears to be the correct thing to do, so one obeys without thinking or gives in to the authority figure.

From the time a child is born the principle of obedience is ingrained in them. They quickly learn to follow authorities such as their parents, the law, and teachers. They understand that obedience is rewarded and disobedience is punished. Children naturally act selfishly; if obedience benefits them, they will comply. A child’s obedience is easy to understand, but why do we find adults who consistently yield to authority when it may bring harm to themselves or others? Why is obedience such a fundamental part of our society, and what is the reason behind it? Authors Erich Fromm, Saul McLeod, Doris Lessing, and Solomon Asch each discuss these ideas in their writings. Together we will examine specific theories on the causes of obedience, as discussed by these authors.

I feel that peacefully disobeying laws has a greater positive influence on the society that we have today than causing violence. The amount of violence in today's world is at a high that all news casted stories become meshed together and go almost unnoticed because violent events have become the normal in social media outlets today, which it should not be especially in the United States where we are all about "freedom for all". Peacefully protesting goes more noticed because it is unheard of. I think it gets the attention of many people on television and social media because it shows how much the people protesting are willing to keep calm and collected over something they care about so much. It has also worked before in history having to do

Cialdini discusses abiding duty for authority that exist in humans in the 7th chapter. He exemplifies this concept through examination of psychological experiments such as Milgram’s “learners shock test” and the real experiment of Mr. Wilson and the train that did not stop. Obligation to authority derives much of human action, as Cialdini points out many examples are found in the bible in the most basic form. Cialdini suggest that often this duty to authority derives from a quick unconscious decision that we are likely unaware even