Accepting law

As Raz says, accepting the law on the authority that it must be obeyed is the basis for obedience in western cultures. This poses a very large problem to our society. Simply accepting that the law is the law and that is the merits that it should be followed on is dangerous. The first example that comes to mind when this method of authority is mentioned is Nazi Germany. When we look at the political and social environment at the time, we see that there is a subtle upbringing of new laws that would seem ghastly by any comparison. Since Germany was in a political climate that fostered its citizens to be desperate, they accepted laws that were simply placed upon them and obeyed because they were simply laws of authority. It is hard to believe that the laws that the people of Germany under the Nazi regime were accepted at all. There is clearly no way that these laws could have been accepted on the basis of morals. Small groups of Germans may have agreed with these morals, but the entire society submitted to this rule. It is highly unlikely that they would all submit to these laws on a moral basis. This is one of the largest problems with submitting to laws only on the basis of authority. It is easier to be convinced to obey immoral laws simply because they are law.