PHILOS 1B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Henry David Thoreau, Practical Reason
5 May 2017
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The individual is, by right, the legitimate authority over her person and property; i. e. each individual is an independent power (83) Any government only has authority legitimately if it is derived from the sanction and consent of the governed" (83) And such a government ought only to arise by means of expediency (i. e. what is of practical worth and reflects the interests of the governed) If government didn"t govern at all where everyone can understand their natural rights and live by reason and virtue and not harm each other. We are prone to passive emotions, reactional responses. Consent of the governed establishes legitimacy in authority. The fact of the ability to enforce laws does not establish just laws. Any government that does not enact just laws ought to be disobeyed: i cannot for any instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave"s government" (81) Through war, that"s how it actually comes to be.
