Prima Facie, The Devil, and Reality

 

Do we have a prima facie obligation  to obey the law?

McCabe says that "God is  not morally responsible for our misdeeds; such responsibility belongs entirely to us." Now, if we accept that God defers good judgement to his teachers on Earth to instil better judgement on His followers, then we are left with moral obligations that are prima facie in nature and subjective to the circumstance and individual who must rely on their own judgement to do he right thing. And so governments enact laws to guide people from making errors- moral or otherwise. With that, the state through the adoption of more complex laws in a complicated world, has placed less trust in people to act correctly. Just look at the growing presence of surveillance cameras  everywhere.   

Considering the Aquinas book on  evil with many contributors p.56. 7. and whether evil is a thing as good is a thing that both may act contrarily to one another and/or is it a case where one is weaker because of scarcity i.e. privation. So, it seems to me that neither is a product or a noun, but a purpose. Purposes are instilled in us at a young age through parenting and bodily functions i.e. hunger. We see athletes perform at a high level with purpose to achieve their goals. Fans may claim some are evil when their team loses.

Contrarily, we have seen governments or individuals acting with evil intent to achieve their goals such as Adolf Hitler and the  Nazi Party.  Was Hitler truly evil or did he lack good-ness. No doubt he was spurred on in his political career by a Germany suffering scarcity from the impact of reparations that they owed as a result of WW1. But was Hitler born evil or caught in a vacuum between  good and evil that motivated him with purpose as a proud German. There can be no doubt his acts  against the Jewish community and others were evil. I think that we can say that Adolf Hitler and athletes act(ed) with purpose while not reacting with Prima Facie intent.

Reacting at "face first" is a desire  that, it seems, is reserved for common folks in their day to day life. Some may be inspired with purpose towards evil acts while others towards good acts.  We do have a prima facie obligation to obey the law, though, if, along the way breaking a law in an emergency to provide "Goodness" seems reasonable. So, long as the endangerment to others is not obvious.

Prof.  Jan Narveson - U of Waterloo Philosophy described Prima Facie obligations in Hanna Pitkin's words in a 1992 lecture: "When you have a prima-facie obligation to do something, it means that the fact that an action is of 'that' type --the type you are said to have a prima facie obligation to do -- is taken by itself a good reason to think you're obliged to do it. Although it's a good reason for thinking so, it's a reason that can be reversed by consideration of surrounding circumstances. in particular cases."

So, God gives us freedom of choice to act and we may fall on our own  sword, somebody else may fall on it, good  intentioned folks may arrive or our moral compass may reset.