Comparative Critique of “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” and "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem"
Obedience is viewed as being the righteous choice, but that isn’t necessarily true. Both “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” and “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” showcase how there are certain situations that individuals must be able to choose to either obey or disobey. Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician, wrote “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” to show that both blind obedience and disobedience are dangerous and people should never stick to one or the other. Eric Fromm took this into more depth in his article “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” by using his scholarly knowledge from being a psychoanalyst, philosopher, historian, and a sociologist. While too much disobedience can be destructive, disobedience in the correct setting has allowed mankind to evolve by questioning authority. Because of Fromm’s extensive background in different fields, his article was rich with information. “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” can be summarized with, “If the capacity for disobedience constituted the beginning of human history, obedience might very well, as I have said, cause the end of human history” (Fromm 124). Fromm
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Rational authority, “acts in the name of a reason…irrational authority has to use force or suggestion” (Fromm 126). In order to stop oneself from being exploited, they must have the courage to defend themselves. Freedom will be gained, “only if he has emerged as a fully developed individual and thus has acquired the capacity to think and feel for himself”(Fromm 127). Individuals who have the courage to question their authority will allow the human race to move forward as a whole by pointing out the restricting orders of their
The power of blind obedience taints individuals’ ability to clearly distinguish between right and wrong in terms of obedience, or disobedience, to an unjust superior. In the article “The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism,” Marianne Szegedy-Maszak discusses the unwarranted murder of innocent individuals due to vague orders that did not survive with certainty. Szegedy-Maszak utilizes the tactics of authorization, routinization, and dehumanization, respectively, to attempt to justify the soldiers’ heinous actions (Szegedy-Maszak 76-77). In addition, “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” by Theodore Dalrymple distinguishes between blind disobedience and blind obedience to authority and stating that neither is superior;
Though quite often unspoken and unknown, the authority given to those such as an airline pilot to fly a plane, or captain while on a boat, is that of the utmost respect and trust. In Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician’s, article “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You”, he discusses the fear of obedience and the constant struggle between the nature of the orders given and the behavior that is demanded by them. Contrarily, in the psychoanalyst and philosopher Erich Fromm article, “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”, he ties in the ancient history of the Greeks and Hebrews in order to demonstrate the evolution of mankind through disobedience. Fromm argues that disobedience has led to the progression of modern reality, while
Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,
It is an antithetical perspective in relation to the other professionals that will be discussed in this paper, but important nonetheless. He also takes some time to discuss the differences in the varieties of obedience that exist. One of the most significant notions to take away from Fromm’s essay is exhibited in this quote, “Human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.” (Fromm P. 574) He explains that because Adam and Eve initiated the beginning of human history by an act of disobedience (eating the apple) that the end of human history would be due to an act of blind obedience. In the quote that follows, he continues to clarify by communicating the fact that as humans live technologically in the atomic age, most people in high ranking positions of power are still living, emotionally in the Stone Age, “… while our mathematics, astronomy, and the natural sciences are of the twentieth century, most of our ideas about politics, the state, and society lag far behind the age of science. If mankind commits suicide it will be because people will obey those who command them to push the deadly buttons; because they will obey the archaic passions of fear,
In Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he cites conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and disobeying unjust laws. In the same way, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” that people should do what their conscience tells them and refuse to follow unjust laws. The positions of the two writers are very close; they both use a common theme of conscience, and they use a similar rhetorical appeal to ethos.
Theodore Dalrymple’s “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You,” emphasizes the relationship between human tendency to anarchy and authority to Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment. Dalrymple’s interpretations surrounding behavior rested mainly on obedience and how clever manipulations could influence behavioral outcome. Within the text, Dalrymple links four main roles of authority, including a pilot, a doctor, a teacher, and a security guard. These roles are then utilized by Dalrymple to explain how blind obedience, and blind disobedience to authority are not to be encouraged unproportionally. While both obedience and disobedience have their separate dangers, it is the rate at which either one is adopted that distinguishes and defines oneself.
Stanley Milgram’s experiment shows that people many times conform to do what an authority figure says or orders. Despite moral apprehensions, a person might continue to do what they know is wrong. Milgram used ordinary people of all different types of life in his experiment and showed that many of them will continue until they are told to stop. It is not a “lunatic fringe” that will go against what is morally right, but it is a majority that will. Milgram says that it is easier going against one’s own principles then disobeying an authoritative figure.
Obedience is the structural backbone that maintains social order however, if in the wrong hands it can result in catastrophic breakdowns expanding to concepts along the lines of the Holocaust. This is the line that man walks every day, working to balance out obedience and disobedience to find the perfect harmony. This is where a British physician, Theodore Dalrymple, the author of “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You”, and psychoanalyst and philosopher, Erich Fromm, author of “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”, come into the conversation. Both of these men, while renowned psychologist, have different viewpoints on obedience, nonetheless share some common ground. Obedience is a force that happens to people
In A Few Good Men, marines Dawson and Downey choose to obey their superiors and carry out the Code Red. In the article, “The My Lai Massacre,” Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton described a situation during the Vietnam War where a platoon ransacked an entire village while under orders by their superiors. “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” explains that in order to go further in one’s life, he or she must be disobedient; however, the article recognizes the power of a situation and its effect on a decision to obey or to disobey. Lance Corporal Harold Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey decide to obey their superiors because they have extensive training in following orders, they are required to obey all lawful orders,
Through my research and findings of obedience to authority this ancient dilemma is somewhat confusing but needs understanding. Problem with obedience to authority has raised a question to why people obey or disobey and if there are any right time to obey or not to obey. Through observation of many standpoints on obedience and disobedience to authority, and determined through detailed examination conducted by Milgram “The Perils Of Obedience,” Doris Lessing “Group Minds” and Shirley Jackson “The Lottery”. We have to examine this information in hopes of understanding or at least be able to draw our own theories that can be supported and proven on this subject.
Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience are the focus of Theodore Dalrymple and Ian Parker. Theodore Dalrymple is a British physician that composed his views of the Milgram experiment with “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” in the New Statesman in July 1999 (254). He distinguishes between blind obedience and blind disobedience stating that an extreme of either is not good, and that a healthy balance between the two is needed. On the other hand, Ian Parker is a British writer who wrote “Obedience” for an issue of Granta in the fall of 2000. He discusses the location of the experiment as a major factor and how the experiment progresses to prevent more outcomes. Dalrymple uses real-life events to convey his argument while Parker exemplifies logic from professors to state his point.
Fromm, Erich. "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem." Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 258-63. Print.
Disobedience is concretely defined as “The failure or refusal to obey someone in authority”, so it is no surprise - considering the beliefs of the contemporary societies - that it is a prevalent theme in Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Webster’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’. Both texts revolve around the disobedience of a central character, Eve in ‘Paradise Lost’ and The Duchess in ‘The Duchess of Malfi’, both authors intelligently explore the inevitable consequences of disobeying those higher than yourself.
In "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem," Erich Fromm (1963) argues that society will self-destruct without achieving freedom through disobedience. Fromm begins with analogies of Hebrew and Greek mythology showing how disobedience to a god freed humans. Using this correlation, Fromm shows freedom as a condition for disobedience, and vice- versa. Therefore, Fromm proclaims that without disobedience the human race could destroy itself within a generation.
As a kid growing up we were always taught to no he disobedient to our parents and to others around us. We learned by rural and error. We found out what we can and chat do. But is disobedience really such a bad thing?