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Ethics: When is justifiable to violate the law?

This research will examine issues that arise around the subject of when and under what circumstances it might be justifiable to violate the law, notably when it might be justifiable to refuse to pay taxes. In order to undertake this examination, reference will be made to relevant theorists and critiques of the rule of law on one side and the just society on the other, connecting, as appropriate, the theories of the rule of law to the issue at hand.

In the republic that Socrates (Plato) envisions, harmony of personal and civic relationships is based on political education and desire for wisdom. In Plato, sovereignty is confined to the philosopher-king who is the highest and best expression of reason. When wisdom and reason of citizens are accomplished, political harmony will follow. There is also a moral foundation for the state, based on virtue, justice, wisdom, and guided by the just and virtuous psychology of its rulers. Plato (Socrates) refers to justice as "the power which produces states or individuals" who function according to their proper nature, having internalized the values of this perfect society:

[Justice] . . . is not a matter of external behaviour, but of the inward self . . . . The just man . . . sets his house in order, by self-mastery and discipline . . . . Only when he has linked these parts together in well-tempered harmony . . . will he be ready to go about whatever he may have to do, whether it be making money . . . or the affairs of state (Plato 141-2).

This theory of law seems perfect in its conceptualization; it would appear that no one would wish to argue with justice. It also appears that in Plato's legal philosophy there is a connection between the law and morality, and that the law is evidence of moral structures that make society coherent. However, the problem is that in practice, the external behavior of citizens may not line up with the ideal form of the republic. Whether that is because the ...

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Ethics: When is justifiable to violate the law?. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 03:09, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709570.html