• Mathias
    16
    Hello, can someone please help me in arguing this topic?
    Submitting to duty does it mean blind obedience?
    What do you think about this?
    For me I think it's not about a blind obedience, but we are kind of obligated to submit to duty whether the laws were fair for all of us or not.
  • Outlander
    1.8k
    'Submitting to duty', hopefully, implies willful participation in something you took the time to understand. Or at least get the gist of.

    Democracy kind of throws in a wrench into the works as far as the whole laws not being fair thing. If enough people are moved to act, any policy can be changed. Name one law that is fair for some but not for others.
  • tim wood
    8.7k
    "Submitting to duty." What do you suppose submitting is? What do you suppose duty is? It's not at all enough to understand these word in their most onerous senses only.
  • Mathias
    16
    Yeah I know but the real question is that if we respect and follow the laws are we doing blind obedience?
  • Outlander
    1.8k


    Are you just writing a term paper or something? Class project?

    Perhaps if you would elaborate a bit more on.. anything. Any word or concept you're asking about aside from just reversing it and throwing in a word or two in between. Perhaps someone will oblige to lead you in the right direction. ;)
  • Mathias
    16
    Yes i am learning somehow to write an oppinion about a certain topic and i found this one that I really liked
    So for now i keep trying to see how can I regroup ideas and arguments and how should I think in a "philosophical" way that's I am reading your comments and opinions and learning
  • Mathias
    16
    so can you please help me with this topic? Like giving me some arguments, how can i start, how can i finish...
    I will be so thanksfull for your precious help
    May God bless you family and you
  • Outlander
    1.8k


    Of course. However the best help is to ensure one can not only help themselves but need not ask, out of necessity that is. What I mean is if this is for some academic application, the wisest pieces of wisdom can be shared here, and used, probably to great success and satisfaction or even amazement of your peers and teacher. But. If you are ever questioned solo, we will not be around to guide you. Worse, if you get some degree from this alone and people depend on you for something important, what service is that to what is right. But I'm probably just rambling.

    Now then. We seem to have brought up two unique, yet related premises. The question of whether or not submitting to (following) duty is equivalent to blind obedience and whether or not respecting (admiring, appreciating, or understanding) and following laws is also equivalent to blind obedience. Which one of these is the root concept you're interested about? Both? I suppose the latter is a derivative of the former.

    First let's define the shared, single property between the two. Blind obedience. Simple, right? You follow or obey someone or something, except -and this is what makes it 'blind'- withholding just about any and all possible concern, discern, discretion, or skepticism. Moral or otherwise. Like a robot.

    Respect is something deep and meaningful. It's not just saying the word itself or doing what you have to do because you have to. It's an intimate understanding of the importance of something you value. Whereas merely following the law is just doing something you have to do so you don't get in trouble.

    Following something you respect is probably not blind obedience.

    I'd continue on but want to see what you have to say and contribute before doing so.

    Just a note, friend. Words between languages are not 100% equivalent. They overlap but not 100%. Things may get (or possibly have been) lost in translation. It's important we discuss further to ensure what I wrote was perceived correctly. What is your first language? Just curious.
  • Mathias
    16
    Yeah I think you noticed I am from France and I am trying to practice my english skills
  • Mathias
    16
    The question of whether or not submitting to (following) duty is equivalent to blind obedience.
    Yeah I am interested in this question.
    I really appreciate your help. What I can say is that I totally agree with the fact that if we want the best for our country or else we respect the laws and follow them as we don't consider it as a blind obedience.
    I really liked this argument because I totally agree with it.
    I am so thanksful for your time.
    I would be happy if you have some more times to spend on me explaining more :)
    REGARDS
  • ChatteringMonkey
    1.3k
    For me I think it's not about a blind obedience, but we are kind of obligated to submit to duty whether the laws were fair for all of us or not.Mathias

    I think that could be a fine conclusion...

    Start with this question, what is the value of obedience and duty? Why would it be a good thing to begin with?

    I suppose the answer to that question could be something along these lines: We are social beings, live in groups and have competing wants and desires etc... And so, there is a need for some rules to live together. And if we need some rules, someone needs to decide and enforce those, because not everybody will agree and follow them out of their own volition.There needs to be some authority in short.

    Once you establish that, it basically follows that dis-obedience is bad in principle. Because if they don't obey, it undercuts the whole order and we are in danger of being back at the beginning. Simply put, there seems to be some value in order and social cohesion, even if the rules are not allways equally balanced and fair for everybody.

    That would be the basic principle, and then you could go into exceptions, i.e. why 'blind' obedience could be problematic, and more generally under which circumstances it would be better to disobey. The poster child for this would be Nazi-Germany. People obeyed alright, yet it is rightly considered to be one of the gravest atrocities in the history of mankind. Germans should have disobeyed. Why? Because people were systematically killed in the millions... There is a moral baseline, or basic human rights if you want (although i'm not a fan of the concept of natural or universal rights), that should never be crossed.

    So eventhough obedience is good in principle, there seem to definitely be circumstances wherein it is better to disobey. Therefor 'blind' obedience cannot be a good thing. People should evaluate when obeying the rules if certain moral lines are not crossed.
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