(April 19, 2017 at 5:10 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: What is the highest authority you recognize? In other words, to what or to whom do you feel obliged to obey and why?
IMO, whatever authority people ultimately decide to recognize or obey, whether it be their own conscience/moral codes and systems or those of others, then it is crucial to scrutinize, test, analyze, and question those sources. In particular, regarding obedience to authority (whether it is oneself or others), I'm reminded of the following Star Trek TNG quote:
"The claim 'I was only following orders' has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history. Starfleet does not want officers who will blindly follow orders without analyzing the situation." Captain Picard, from the Star Trek TNG episode "Redemption, part II" (season 5, episode 1).