No moral system can rest solely on authority.

About A. J. Ayer

Portrait of A. J. Ayer

Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer ( AIR; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989) was an English philosopher who became professionally established through his exposition of major theses of logical positivism in Language, Truth, and Logic (1936). The work's dismissal of metaphysics, and endorsement of emotivism was the cause of...

More quotations tagged with “authority”

What you need is sustained outrage.… There's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.

authority respect outrage

What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement [of the adolescent] in the decision making.

—Laurence Steinberg and Ann Levine

power rules rebellion authority youth

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.

—Thomas H. Huxley

knowledge rejection authority

The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime.

—Emma Goldman

war law apology authority crime taxes capital punishment

I think we are constantly faced with the same decision. The decision to be blindly obedient to authority versus the decision to try and change things by fighting the powers that be is always, throughout history, the only decision.

—Abbie Hoffman

history power change authority fighting obedience

History

11 Jul 2015 Added