Obedience to Authority Essay

Authority can be defined in many different ways. The Oxford Dictionary defines authority as “the power to give orders, makes decisions, and enforce obedience” (Dictionary). An authoritative figure has the power to give commands and have them followed out in whichever

Someone has always been there to tell you what to do in life. As a young child, you were told to behave properly and not to eat too many sweets. As you grew older and older, it seemed as if the responsibilities became greater and greater in number. Even as an adult, there was always an officious boss telling you what to do. There was always some higher force that bound your actions. Authority was the major theme in the novel 1984, by George Orwell. Authority was also a profound factor in Stanley Milgram’s experiment conducted in 1974. It seems that authority has been around longer than any of us can remember, and it is authority that dictates the way we act.

This passage could be seen as committing the fallacy of an appeal to force since the speaker is coercing his/her audience that if they don’t abided by the prophecies of the book, “God shall punish them with the plagues that are written in the book.” Rather than giving reasons as to why people should follow the words written in the book such as that the prophecy can help bring about a better life, the speaker threatens the audience, saying “God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book.”

Clearly, both liberty and authority are necessary. The key is to find the right balance between them. Many philosophers have given this thought, and they each came up with different ideas. Some of them were influenced by the time and place in which they lived, which lacked either liberty either authority. Two of the most prominent theories on liberty and authority were put forth by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.

Many people have drastically different views on how the government and the authority of the group should direct the lives of individuals within a society. In countries such as the United States, the question of whether or not the government should be able to have direct control over different aspects of people's lives is one of the key components of the political system and the different ideologies of political parties within the nation. When looking at the works of John Stuart Mill's, the ideas of utilitarianism and of the tyranny of the majority tend to coincide with one another in a number of ways with regard to how the needs of the individual can be superseded by the needs of the group in order to benefit the entire Society.

With authority one person or a group can have power over another group. Authority can go far and it can do a lot of things. It is identified and backed by the norms that are seen in any social system. It is excepted even if there are problems about it that has to be fixed. In the discussion theory assignment we had to consider questions that dealt with authority and why we obey it. When I was answering it I wrote, “I believe that we follow the rules without thinking because we feel that it will always be in our favor. I also think that the way some of us were raised also has a high impact on this.” Some of us will always support authority because of what we have been exposed to concerning it but there will be others that will always see the bad side of it. If you were to ask people from Detroit about how they feel about the way the police have been doing things you are going to get back different response. This is because of the different opinions that each person will have. If you ask someone who has had close impact from the events that have occurred they would probably say that the police system needs to be fixed but if you ask someone who has been there but isn’t familiar with what’s happening they are going to say they are happy with

Webster defines authority as the power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior . Authority frameworks are evident from the family unit to the President of the United States. This authority, whether implied by culture, assigned by title, or earned is essential within the social framework within a society. Most listen to those in authority because they feel that these individuals are worthy of respect. Generally speaking, people sense the objectives and demands of an authority figure as reasonable, beneficial, or true. Throughout history, we have seen the good and bad effects of those in authority. It can be to uphold cultural values as seen in an arranged marriage in Indian culture to the attempted annihilation of an entire people group for no other reason than the

As we see issues around the world, there are people who deal with them very differently than others. This world’s society has lead many people to believe that if any law is unjust, they can disobey it. The people who think this often create protests. Depending on the issue, these protests have not done much damage into the issue they want changed. However, there are many people that have brought the attention of outsiders into this topic. People who simply do not know why they are acting this way, often do when seeing protests. When evaluation if disobeying an unjust law is appropriate, we need to know, the possible reasons why this protest is happening, examples around the world, and even to look at the possible issues

Authority is defined as the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. The idea of Authority of an independent, opinionated, egalitarian, unsubmissive, society has not been received well. Many feel that authority relates to a specific race or gender, creating dishonor and resentment toward one another. Therefore, the enemy has worked diligently to deceive humanity to believe that our vast protection under God’s covering through the position of authority is unnecessary. The thought of allowing someone to have control over decisions or giving order has created anarchy in how society views authority. Ultimately the idea of missing out on what is deemed wrong or restricted is desirable to many instead of focusing on that

The power of authority is when one person or a group of people follow someone or something with the intent of obeying rules blindly and without hesitation. An example of influential authority is in the Milgram Experiment. This lab was conducted with multiple people who were told to shock someone on command when they were authorized to do so. The experiment showed results that people are willing to listen to a higher authority when they were told. Low status and persuasive people “are like sheep following a shepherd.” (Paragraph 7, Milgram Experiment) when there is an authority figure present. Authority is a privilege that can be easily misused, and this power is something that can cause much impact on other people lives and

One of the leading principles behind the American vision of a free society is the concept of free speech and the application of this in everyday life plays as a major component to the governing processes. When people are able to express their opinions in a respectful manner, it can convert others in their way of thinking, raise awareness to an overlooked issue, and express minority and majority concerns alike. Resistance to laws is necessary in a growing and changing society, as it forces every constituent to reconsider their values and to judge the law at the given time based primarily on the majority’s disposition. Resistance is the Yin to the Yang of the legislative process, especially so in a free state, because without it, a statist environment like that of Nazi Germany in the 1940’s can arise and amass such a great extent of control that the freedom to express a dissenting opinion can be completely stripped from an individual.

As a child growing up, everyone was told “respect your elders” or “listen and obey”. As children grow into teenagers, they start pushing the boundaries to see who they really need to obey. Throughout adulthood, though people have fewer and fewer authority figures as the years go by, everyone must obey someone. Though we all have someone to obey, when does the respectful obedience cross the line into dangerous territory? Obedience becomes dangerous when it becomes physically or mentally harmful to one’s self or society.

I believe it is safe to say that the subjects of any legitimate state have an obligation to at obey their governing bodies. Underlying my own obedience to my country's laws are a number of reasons - an understanding of my obligation to take responsibility for my own actions, a recognition of my government's authority over me, a belief that the laws of my country are well-founded, and a fear of the consequences of disobeying said laws. Without laws, a society would quickly crumble into disorder and chaos, unless its entire population is benevolent and selfless. And since my beliefs about human nature run contrary to the idea that we all want what is best for each other, I don't believe that said chaos can be avoided without a respected

Justice is being fair to the patients as an Occupational therapy personnel shall promote fairness and objectivity in the provision of occupational therapy services.

“Authority cannot afford to connive at disobedience” writes Sophocles in Antigone. This is also a central concern to Aristotle who establishes the importance of ‘Authority’ in the opening lines of his treatise Poltics: