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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
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    42
    It is the duty of the sovereign authority alone to determ... — Carmelics
    Home/Democracy & Governance
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    It is the duty of the sovereign authority alone to determine how a person is obliged to obey God

    Democracy & GovernanceSocial Contract
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Piety consists in practicing justice and obedience
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    • 2.There is no standard of justice other than the will of the sovereign
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Aquinas and the natural law tradition establish that divine law is knowable through reason independently of any political authority.
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    • 2.If moral obligations to God are accessible through natural reason, sovereign declaration cannot be their exclusive source or interpreter.
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    • 3.Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration demonstrates that coerced religious conformity produces no genuine piety, only outward compliance.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Kant's autonomy principle holds that genuine moral and religious duty requires self-legislation through practical reason, not heteronomous command.
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    • 2.A sovereign-defined obligation to God collapses the distinction between civil law and conscience, making Spinoza's own criterion of piety incoherent.
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    Topics

    Democracy & GovernanceSocial Contract

    Connections

    2 topics

    Virtue Ethics1 linkedJustice & Punishment1 linked

    Related

    A sovereign-defined obligation to God collapses the distinction between civil la...Aquinas and the natural law tradition establish that divine law is knowable thro...If moral obligations to God are accessible through natural reason, sovereign dec...Kant's autonomy principle holds that genuine moral and religious duty requires s...
    +3 moreShow less
    Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration demonstrates that coerced religious conform...Piety consists in practicing justice and obedienceThere is no standard of justice other than the will of the sovereign

    Similar

    The sovereign is the sole civil and religious authority80%A law must be binding on humans, since there is a duty of compliance o...79%Legitimate political authority does not entail an obligation to obey.79%The state or sovereign is necessary to ensure that individuals live ha...79%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: spinoza-political
    View source passageHide passage
    However, since Scripture does have a positive socio-political function in promoting justice and charity, one might wonder how much authority the clergy has in public matters. Spinoza’s response is that “authority in sacred matters belongs wholly to the sovereign powers ” (Ch. 19, title). Like Hobbes, he embraces the Erastian position that religious law is realized through the will of the civil authority (TTP, Ch. 19). The crux of the single authority thesis is this: the sovereign is the sole ci
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit