Summary of the Dilemma of Obedience Essay - 509 Words

Summary of The Dilemma of Obedience In the chapter The Dilemma of Obedience of the book Obedience to Authority : An Experimental View, Stanley Milgram explores the concept of obedience to authority, and why people cannot defy authority even the situation is totally conflicting with morality. He introduces his ideas by giving the definition of obedience, and mentions Nazi extermination as an instance of obedience, which contradicts with moral values. According to Milgram, obedience idiosyncratically binds humankind to systems of authority, and links the individual action to political purpose. In terms of observations, obedience accepted as an inveterate behavior inclination, and obeying a system of authority has been comprehended as†¦show more content†¦Milgram conducts an experiment to examine the act of obeying, and shows concrete instances. He pressures the subjects to behave in a way conflicting with morality. In the experiment, the experimenter orders the subject to give increasing electro shocks to an a ccomplice, when he makes an error in a learning session. The situation makes the subject stressed and he hesitates about fulfilling the experimenters orders. Desperation and the manifest suffering of the accomplice force the subject to stop the experiment; however, the legitimate authority orders him to continue. In this experiment, Milgram aims to investigate when people refuse to obey and defy authority in an explicitly contradictive situation. Despite the stress and pressure on the subject, almost two-thirds of the subjects stopped the experiment. However, Milgram refuses to qualify those people, who shocked victim severely, as monsters, because the subjects have been chosen among ordinary people. Milgram comes with a set of binding factors that ensures the subject to continue to the experiment. He finds out that the politeness of the subject arises from his promise to help the experimenter, and the awkwardness of withdrawal binds the subject to the experiment. Milgram mentions a number of adjustments in the subjects opinions that destroy his decision to break with the authority. These adjustments help the subject sustain his relationship with the experimenter, and reduceShow MoreRelatedThe Movie Cool Hand Luke988 Words   |  4 Pageshas ethical and moral dilemmas that encourage the audience to delve deeper into the roles that ethics and morals play in society today. There are ethical and moral dilemmas that the characters face and for that historical and social time period there were viable solutions. There are moral values that guide the characters and historical experiences that shaped them. After a brief summary I will show two moral dilemmas, their outcome and alternatives. Also relating the dilemmas to articles by SelectiveRead MoreYiyao Su. 3/24/17. Career Or Family. 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