Abstract
Legitimate authorities will inevitably issue mistaken directives. Do we have a duty to obey such directives? This question is especially pressing in cases where: a) obeying a mistaken directive would lead us to take part in the perpetration of a serious injustice; b) the victims of the injustice are not themselves subject to the authority. The clearest case is when a legitimate authority, acting in good faith, orders us to fight a war that is in fact unjust. I address the question of whether we have a duty to obey such orders by responding to a number of important objections that Thomas Christiano, Christopher Kutz and David Estlund have raised against the view I originally defended in “Political Authority and Unjust Wars”.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2 Apr 2025 |
Keywords
- authority
- Political Obligation
- Just War
- Moral Dilemmas
- Tragic Choices
- Legitimacy
- Exclusionary Reasons
- Presumptions
- Normative Powers
- Regret
- Wars of National Defence
- Prima Facie / Pro Tanto Duties.