The only noises in the room were the occasional deep sigh, and the perpetual tapping of fingers on the keyboards of hot, overworked computers.
I sat in my own bubble of silence, my heart sunk down to the bottom of my chest for a mistake, a trivial mistake, that I made during a midterm I was so confident about. Like damn, if only I would have checked my work more rigorously. Will I miss the entire question? Will that drop my grade down an entire letter? The worries bubbling inside of me, reminding me of the imperfection I have cast upon myself.
Occasional mumbling, the coders in the room questioning the assignment, the language.
The second possible essay topic, questioning if legitimate commands qualify someone to be a legitimate authority. Or, if ignored legitimate commands simply constitute negligible advice.
Is the ultimate signal of a legitimate authority that its people absolutely obey its commands? That is, assuming that the command the authority makes is pre-emptive and dependent.
Is obedience the golden ticket to determining authority, once that authority has already pre-empted its reasons? Is obedience the condition on which the Normal Justification Thesis is dependent?
Even if an authority’s command is legitimate by the Dependence & Pre-Emption theses, is disobedience a caveat to determining a legitimate authority?
Raz states that legitimate authority must arise from de facto authority, but if an authority’s directives & commands are legitimate, but I disobey, is that a legitimate authority that is not a de facto authority?
Hmm. I digress.
Lauren Dixon 