(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?
There's no one absolute highest authority that I must obey at all costs. And I'd rather not blindly obey any authority. What I prefer is to acknowledge certain authorities as such (within the right contexts), and to follow their rules only if they do not clash with my core values and violate my rights.
For example, when someone kills a random stranger on the street or robs a small business shop, I acknowledge the authority of the police to go after the criminals and have them arrested. What I will not do is acknowledge their authority to arrest someone for being a Muslim or fighting for marriage equality.
When it comes to science, I generally acknowledge the authority of the official body of relevant scientists to disseminate certain scientific facts and explanations to the public, provided no misuses/abuses of the scientific method were revealed.
When I was a kid living at home with parents, I acknowledged my parents as the authority in the house so long as I was financially and emotionally dependent on them, and so long as they did not abuse me. In school, the teachers were the authority (again, so long as they were not abusive). In hospitals and clinics, doctors and medical workers. And so on.
