PHIL 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Extortion, Social Contract, If And Only If
Lecture 5/14:
• Kidnapping and extortion
o Kidnapping- unlawfully confining person against their will
o Extortion- unlawfully obtaining money or property from someone through threat
of violence
• Morally significant differences
o There is a morally significant difference between A and B iff: there is some
difference between them that could explain a moral difference between them
• Against political authority
o A1- it is wrong for veronica to extort and kidnap her neighbors
o A2- there is no morally significant difference between her extorting and
kidnapping her neighbors and the government taxing and imprisoning its citizens
o A3- If there’s no morally significant difference between two things, then if one is
wrong, the other is wrong
o A4- so it is wrong for the government to tax and imprison its citizens
• Social contract- ways of tactily consenting
o Being passive- not vocally objecting to boss’s time change, not vocally objecting
to the laws
o Accepting benefits- ordering food at restaurant, using the roads/fire
department/etc
o Sticking around- staying at party after announcement, staying in the community
• Disanalogies
o 1- there is a reasonable way to opt out of agreement
o 2- explicit refusal to enter the agreement is recognized
• no social contract
o B1- S tactily consents to x only if (i) there is a reasonable way to opt out and (ii)
explicit refusal to opt in is recognized
o B2- there is no reasonable way to opt out of the social contact with the
government and explicit refusal to opt in is not recognized
o B3- so we have to tactily consent to the government
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