Issue17 【0710G-小猪快跑小组】第2次作业 by xexxex

jojogaotianUID: 2189450

题目：ISSUE17 - "There are two types of laws: just and unjust. Every individual in a society has a responsibility to obey just laws and, even more importantly, to disobey and resist unjust laws."
字数：561          用时：00:47:39          日期：2007-7-19 下午 07:55:34

Should every individual obey just laws and disobey unjust ones, as the speaker asserts? In my view, the speaker unfairly generalizes the definition of laws- whether a law is unjust or not is not an absolute question. Besides, the speaker recommends an ineffective and unfavorable way for legal reform.

Whether a law is just or unjust is rarely a straightforward matter, which depends not only on personal values, but also on individual interests. On the level of personal values, the differences of individual value system decide the fairness of a law. Consider, for example, the debate on problem of clone. Those, who tend to support legal clone, hold the opinion that it can serve to solve many gene diseases of human, provide hopes for infertilecouples, as well as improve human race's condition. Yet, on the other hand, those who oppose this technology view it as sacrifice/profane the gods and believe it disturbs the normal rules of nature, which may result in a huge disaster to world. Now we may see the ban on study of clone technology, but how can we judge the justice of it? On one hand, clone technology may work a benefit to us human race; on the other hand, through violation of natural rules, its potential deleterious effects are conceivable. Therefore, we cannot judge such a law as either just or not easily.

On the level of personal interests, it is also difficult to evaluate a law in respects to various sides of competing interests. A good case in point is the regulation in my city which limits the amount of wasteful gas emitted by local factories. The law was designed to protect the public physical health; however, to comply with the regulation, the managers of these factories might have no alternative but to reducetheir production, purchase some expensive equipment to purge the emission, or shut down the factories altogether. Moreover, they may lay off employees, raise up the prices of their productions, which to some extent increase the living cost of local families. Thus, our government faces a plight- to protect public safety and health, or maintain current conditions to prevent higher rate of local unemployment. The interest's conflict of different groups has an impact on the above question- whether the law is just or unjust? In short, competing interests are another reason to judge whether a law is just or unjust.

Furthermore, any justifiable violation of one sort of laws may lead us on a slippery slope to some dangers. For instance, the violation to a law which bans smoking in public areas may result in a confliction between two groups of people-- the one who puts a high value on public health, and the other who values indulgence and comfort over physical health. This violation is not only detrimental to people's health, but also may attribute to an extreme behavior or even physical damages to both parts-- which puts a big threat on social and individual security.

In conclusion, the speaker unfairly categorizes any law as either just or unjust. Clearly, it is such a question which cannot be answers by any individual or societal groups, because not only is it relevant to personal value system, but also individual interests. After all, any form of violation to established laws can pose dangers to the whole society, and public as well.

[ 本帖最后由 jojogaotian 于 2007-7-22 18:39 编辑 ]