Each Individual Possesses A Conscience Which To

When An Individual Wishes To Stand In Opposition To Authority, He Does Best To Find Support For His Position From Others In His Group. The Mutual Support Provided By Men For Each Other Is The Strongest Bulwark We Have Against The Excesses Of Authority.

Some System Of Authority Is A Requirement Of All Communal Living, And It Is Only The Man Dwelling In Isolation Who Is Not Forced To Respond, Through Defiance Or Submission, To The Commands Of Others.

Ordinary People, Simply Doing Their Jobs, And Without Any Particular Hostility On Their Part, Can Become Agents In A Terrible Destructive Process. Moreover, Even When The Destructive Effects Of Their Work Become Patently Clear, And They Are Asked To Carry Out Actions Incompatible With Fundamental Standards Of Morality, Relatively Few People Have The Resources Needed To Resist Authority.

It Is Not So Much The Kind Of Person A Man Is As The Kind Of Situation In Which He Finds Himself That Determines How He Will Act.

Although A Person Acting Under Authority Performs Actions That Seem To Violate Standards Of Conscience, It Would Not Be True To Say That He Loses His Moral Sense. Instead, It Acquires A Radically Different Focus. He Does Not Respond With A Moral Sentiment To The Actions He Performs. Rather, His Moral Concern Now Shifts To A Consideration Of How Well He Is Living Up To The Expectations That The Authority Has Of Him.