Law Does Not Drive Us, Reason Does

Law Does Not Drive Us, Reason Does

English 111
February 21, 1997

Is an individual ever morally justified in breaking a man made law? I
firmly believe the answer to this question is yes. If the question was stated
as, is an individual ever legally justified in breaking a man made law I would
have to say no. There are several reasons that have made me believe that it is
morally justifiable in breaking the law; however the most convincing comes from
Dr. Martin Luther King in his letter from a Birmingham Jail. " We can never
forget what that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal..." (Classic
Arguments 668). King went on in his letter to say that it would be against man
made law to help a jew in Nazi Germany. What King said in his letter has to
make a person think that not all laws are good for the group in society and
morality is a justifiable excuse in breaking the law.
Those who oppose my view on this question may be quick to ask me how
come we go by law and not morality in society. Last year at St. Louis
University I had a roommate with the complete opposite view on this question.
He explained himself this way:

Human nature consists of three basic components. These are to
live,
propagate, and to dominate. If humanity was left without any
other
parameters, this natural state of existence would govern its
behavior. Fortunately there are parameters, and they are laws.
(Mosier)

What this basically says is that la...

Law Does Not Drive Us, Reason Does

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