On Disobedience And Other Essays

Disobedience Vs Obedience
In society, obedience to authority is ingrained in humanity from an early age, causing some
individuals to blindly obey orders without contemplating the credibility of the source. In
psychoanalyst Erich Fromm's article "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem," he
explains that throughout human history obedience has been associated with virtue and disobedience
with sin (Fromm 127). Fromm suggests that our conscience is an internalized voice of authority
(126). Fromm claims individuals need to distinguish the difference between rational and irrational
authority because obedience is effective when individuals want to obey, instead of fearing to
disobey (127). Two other authors who examine obedience are Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee
...show
more content...
Fromm effectively states that obedience can be established by sheer force or it can be rooted in
one's heart (Fromm 127). Fromm considers Downey's blind obedience to Dawson based on the trust
that he has for Dawson in his heart. However, Dalrymple would refute that Downey extinguishes his
existence as an autonomous being by not thinking or acting for himself without approval from
Dawson (122). Fromm counters Dalrymple's conclusions and Dawson's actions by explaining the
humanistic conscience that is present in every human being (Fromm 125). Fromm states the
conscience serves our functioning as human beings by having the intuitive knowledge of what is
conductive of life and what is destructive of life (125). Logically agreeing with Fromm, Robert
Cialdini, author of "Authority Principle" further explains the need for a sense of control. Cialdini
writes that this sense of control can be gained in two ways: Individuals can either control things
themselves or they can trust someone else to provide the control for them (Cialdini). Fromm and
Cialdini would both logically concur that Downey trusts Dawson to provide his sense of control.
Cialdini goes on to explain that another type of authority is being an expert, knowing more about
something than others (Cialdini). Downey is younger, smaller, and weaker, than Dawson, and as
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

Obey or Disobedience
AMO
Obey Or Disobedience
ROUGH DRAFT
In the story by Fromm, his outlook on obedience and disobedience is that we have the ability to
obey but the capacity to disobey is something that society has influenced us to do naturally.
Obedience and disobedience has always been part of a never ending cycle that is consistently going
round and round. Throughout history it has been evident that soldier's obey their commander's, that
knights uphold the ruling of their king, and that their disobedience is about the shifting of power.
So, too, is our nation being part of that cycle and repeating history. Our nation's soldiers obey orders
given by the President. Whether they are right or wrong it is an order they obeyed countless of times.
...show more content...
We make necessary choices in order for us to be accepted in society, yet we challenge what we
were taught and conform to our perspective of what society wants for us to be. You always hear the
term, "There are two types of people..." Being that those two types are the Yin and Yang, the lovers
and the haters, it is the opposites that make the stereotype of each other. In the Ashe article, it
talked about how we conform to the position we are given. If you were one of the poisoners, you
would imitate and believe that you are one. If you are a guard, you would play the part and show
the power you hold to those that are beneath you. That is society; those that are on top would
always look down upon those that are beneath them and those beneath would do almost anything to
bask in their glory. And then there are those that would do what they can to bring them down.
Society has naturally catered to those that are disobedient, it may be from fear of their new found
power and wealth, or it may be that they are righteous and know what their actions are for the good
of all. We are the one that put them on the pedestal of admiration. We learned from a young age to
honor and respect those that put themselves on the line for the good of the nation. Being raised into
the military lifestyles was hard and very obedient. My

Essay about Disobedience
This is a critique of Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem by Eric Fromm, written in
1963. Fromm states in his article that disobedience is what originally
set the human race on the path to thinking on their own, but obedience to authority in the
end will be what kills us all. Overall his article has several compelling reasons to believe
his theory, but it is also not completely believable for several reasons. There are several
points that are debatable and his high use of emotion alone could cause one to question
his article on a whole. Fromm being a psychoanalyst, sociologist, historian, and
philosopher may have contributed to his using the pull of emotion so much.
In his article Fromm...show more content...
If a
person is not they will continue to obey because at least this way they feel as if they are a
part of that power. Throughout history man has not been able to do this and as a result the
majority of people has been kept under the authority of the minority. It has been taught
that disobedience is wrong and obedience is right, thus the ability to keep the masses
under control. In order to break free from the masses it is necessary to disobey and then
know true freedom.
Adolf Eichmann, who was responsible for many deaths, stated after being
captured that he was only following orders. Fromm then concludes that people have
become so ingrained in the process that they often no longer even realize that they are
obeying, thus making it nearly impossible to break the cycle.
First, there are several fallacies in Fromm's article. Fromm states that Adam and

Eve were a part of the garden, not above it. That they had to disobey to break this bond
with nature, in order to free of it. That to be fully human man must learn to rely on his
own powers. Yet according to the NIV Bible the story ofAdam and Eve goes quite
differently. It states that God made man, and that man was to rule over all the earth (NIV
Bible, Gen.1:26). Man's time in the

Disobedience In Paradise Lost
Have you ever seen a big red button that says do not push and then pushed it? We have all been
there; it was just too tempting to not push it, right? In John Milton's Paradise Lost, mankind
presses that big red button. Through Adam and Eve's free will to eat from the Tree of Knowledge,
they fall from Paradise. It is not like God did not warn the pair; he made it abundantly clear that
their one rule was to not eat from the tree. God, being omniscient, knows that they will fall, but
makes their choice of disobedience an easy decision. Although God foresees the expulsion of Adam
and Eve from the garden, they have free will and fall on their own; however, God makes it too easy
for Satan to succeed. God lets mankind fail through their own choices. At the start of the epic, Milton
asserts that Paradise Lost will display "Man's first disobedience" (1.1). Right from the get–go, Milton
claims that the fall is mankind's fault, so we know that Man must have made their ill–fated decision
on their own free will. Jumping forward to Book Three, God discusses the future of mankind with
the Son. Being all–knowing, God can see the choice Adam and Eve will make: "Man will hearken to
[Satan's] glozing lies... [and] will fall" (3.93–95). Despite knowing what is to come for the pair, God
recognizes that mankind's fall is a result of their own choices. God could have easily intervened and
made the right choice for them, but he wants Adam and Eve to have the free will to make their own
choices. In

Disobedience in Children Essay
"How can you learn lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for you, and no room at all for any
lesson–books!" (Carroll, 1993 p21). Piaget (1896–1980) came up with a theory called cognitive
development, which occurs in four stages in every child's emotional development. The first two
stages are from birth until the child reaches his or her seventh year of life where they will become
aware of its environment by visual, touching and sound. During the third stage and fourth stage, the
concrete and formal operations, the child will typically ask questions to understand the complexions
of things surrounding the child and to satisfy their curiosity and exploring mind. Children at these
stages usually step out of their comfort zones and try new...show more content...
One of major lectures from parents is respect. Inside the autobiography of Uhlberg (2008), there
were a lot of stories where Myron showed disrespect towards his parents, especially during his
preteen years, which is during the fourth stage. One of the parts where he displayed disrespect
towards his parents was at a parent and teacher night when Myron's parents got the opportunity to
meet with his teacher. Since his parents were deaf, they used Myron as an interpreter. One of the
words of wisdom that children often hear from their parents is to do what they are told. When the
teacher started to explain that Myron had the worst discipline problem in the class, Myron decided
to interpret differently and told his parents that he was the best student in the class. He
unintentionally disobeyed one of the words of wisdom even though he was trying to cover up so
that his parents could be proud of their son. Another disrespect towards parents is showed in the
movie, Pan's Labyrinth, a young girl, Ofelia disobeyed her mother and the general when she did not
show up to the formal dinner that they had (Del Toro, 2006).
Parents often lecture children not to wander off on their own, yet Ofelia disobeys by wandering
off on her own. She did that because she did not want to be where she was. She was forced to leave
her home to move in with the General, because of her mother's decision. She felt that she was
keeping herself busy by exploring the new environment but in

Obedience Essay
English 1310–04 28 October 2011 Obedience as an act can be traced back to the very beginnings of
human history. The common belief has always been to obey authority at all cost. This act has
never been questioned because authority corresponds to the common belief that respecting
authority and obeying them will lead you to success in all aspects of life. Obedience is not
defined to specific situations and its context can be portrayed in various ways. For example, Erich
Fromm writes in his essay, "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem; "Human history
began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of
disobedience." This statement suggests that everything which we perceived to be...show more
content...
Living technically refers to the advances in science that has propelled us to the atomic age.
However living emotionally refers to the Old Stone Age view on ideas about politics, state,
society. Fromm makes a very remarkable point when he states, "If a man can only obey and not
disobey, he is a slave; if he can only disobey and not obey, he is a rebel(not a revolutionary); he acts
out of anger, disappointment, resentment, yet not in the name of a conviction or a principle (Fromm
685)". This statement leaves little doubt that we cannot come up with an accurate definition or
reason behind obedience to authority. Essentially there is no gray area between obedience and
disobedience. At this point in the essay, Fromm is very close to convincing the reader that
obedience is a psychological and physical problem through the various examples in history he has
cited. Fromm continues to make his case that disobedience is detrimental to society by explaining
the two types of conscience that develop within the human psyche when confronted with a important
decision. The first type of conscience is authoritarian conscience which deals with the internal voice
that aims to please an authority figure out of fear. The second type, humanistic conscience, can be
explained as the voice in the back of your head that allows you to tell what is human and inhuman.
The complexity of defining which conscience ultimately decides your actions can be explained by

Dalrymple's Just Do What The Pilot Tells You
Power and Disobedience Power is the root of disobedience. Theodore Dalrymple, a British
physician, explains how disobedience can affect how one will act towards authority in the article,
"Just Do What the Pilot Tells You." Disobedience can be one of the main factors of why people
believe they have total power. Although Dalrymple argues that people who are disobedient are
looking for attention, he is also arguing that a person with bad authority is actually wanting power
or control over the situation. Dalrymple begins his article by doing a summarization of Milgram's
experiment where Milgram demonstrates how ordinary people would do sinister things just because
they were to told by an authority figure. Dalrymple uses Milgram's article...show more content...
The parents were blaming the way their child was acting on the teacher, who serves as the
representative authority. Dalrymple is able to this use example from someone he has encountered,
which can give a greater impact on his article. With the impact of other someone else's experience
with bad authority and the parents wanting control over the position, he was able to incorporate a
way that his article does not just relate to him and his own experiences, but it can also relate to the
greater community. Dalrymple gives many excellent ways of why disobedient people are looking
for attention. People will change their actions in a split second if they know a greater authority
figure is overlooking them in a way that it will effect them poorly in the long term of things. An
anecdote he gives in the article is of when a woman who is supposedly against all authority above
her, though she listens to all the directions the pilot had just instructed her to do (120). Once again
Dalrymple uses actual examples that happen today. Dalrymple uses his own technique to understand
why this woman might act this way towards authority. Dalrymple questioned her ways of going
against authority, and she told him it was because of the way the authority treated her in her own
church (120). This woman is seeking attention just simply because she is against all authority,
though she changes her actions when the orders were presented to her in a behavioral

On Disobedience And Other Essays

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

More from Paper Writing Services Reviews

More from Paper Writing Services Reviews (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

On Disobedience And Other Essays