Abstract
In a recent essay, "Political Obligation", R. M. Hare sets out a utilitarian account of the obligation to obey the law which he believes to be immune to an objection often brought against such accounts. In what follows I shall briefly review this objection and Professor Hare's response to it; than I shall go on to argue that Hare's response, ingenious as it is, fails to defeat the objection. Hare's argument is instructive nonetheless, for its failure tells us something about wrongs and harm as well as utility and political obligation.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1982
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 1982, Franz Steiner Verlag. This article first appeared in Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie: 68:1 (1982), 102-108.
Please note that downloads of the article are for private/personal use only.
Recommended Citation
Dagger, Richard. "Harm, Utility, and the Obligation to Obey the Law." Archiv Für Rechts- Und Sozialphilosophie 68, no. 1 (1982): 102-08.