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Single Idea 20612

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / a. Legal system]

Full Idea

One of the more common reasons people will give for having a moral obligation to obey the law is consent. ...It rests on the intuitively appealing idea of an analogy with a promise.

Gist of Idea

If being subject to the law resembles a promise, we are morally obliged to obey it

Source

Tuckness,A/Wolf,C (This is Political Philosophy [2017], 6 'Consent')

A Reaction

[They cite Locke and Jefferson] In Locke's case it has to be a 'tacit' promise, which is more realistic. In real life we have problems with people who 'said' they would do something. They are often accused of promising, when they didn't.

Book Reference

Tuckness,A / Wolf,C: 'This is Political Philosophy' [Wiley Blackwell 2017], p.147