Abstract

CARRILLO-SANTARELLI, Nicolás. On the Virtuousness of Certain Refusals to Comply with Legal Demands Prompted by Other Normativities. Díkaion [online]. 2023, vol.32, n.1, e32122.  Epub Nov 21, 2023. ISSN 0120-8942.  https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2023.32.1.22.

This paper discusses how virtue ethics, with its consideration of the context in which moral agents must conduct themselves, can help to shed light on the circumstances under which a deliberate decision to not comply with a given legal mandate may be regarded not only as morally permissible but even as the most ethical way to conduct oneself. Both substantive 'no harm' and due diligence conditions are involved in determining this. Furthermore, the article examines how the decision to defy a legal command consciously does not entail a denial of normativity but, instead, can sometimes presuppose a will to comply with a normativity seen as having a greater priority than the legal one by the moral agent. Existential and emotional factors may shape this determination.

Keywords : Virtue ethics; civil disobedience; phenomenology; natural law; philosophy of law.