PHL271H1 Lecture Notes - Gustav Radbruch, Legal Positivism, Deontological Ethics
Document Summary
In order to have authority, the philosopher would argue that there would have to be some pre-determined rule to authorize someone to exercise legal power, but there is no such rule. To use force, your authority only extends as far as your force does. Might doesn t make right, doesn t answer the philosopher s question. Just because a person has coercive power/force this doesn t create a rule as to why they have authority. They simply then have the power to force a person to do something. Might establishes that another person can compel a person to act a certain way. Authority involves placing a person under obligation. Both morality and law suggest that one shouldn t murder. But it is questionable that law could command things of us that morality might ask. Kant would argue that there is a norm that makes a legal system possible, and an obligation desirable.
