Stanley Milgram’s Purloined Letter
A Plea for a Normative Interpretation of the “Obedience to Authority” Experiments
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6445072 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Raphaël Künstler (0000-0001-9980-4364, Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3-23 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy of the Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0048-3931 • E-ISSN: 1552-7441 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00483931241252600 |
| OpenAlex | W4398200056 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
I argue here that the theoretically central aspect of Stanley Milgram’s “experiments on obedience to authority” continues to elude main current commentators because it does not fit into the current paradigm of Milgram’s studies: the presentation and the justification of a set of rules to the subjects. I argue that taking this fact into account radically changes the interpretation of the subjects’ conduct: they are not submitting to an authority, they are not obeying orders, but they are applying a justified rule. If such is indeed the case, the interpretation of the experiments should not be primarily psychological, but normative
Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Milgram experiment · Normative · Obedience · Plea · Political science · Sociology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Social Influence · Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment
Morality in the Making of Sense and Self
Obedience to authority
In Their Own Words
What is a Social Practice
Spinning an Organizational “Web of Obligation”? Moral Choice in Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience” Experiments
Credibility and Incredulity in Milgram’s Obedience Experiments
From “Ridiculous” to “Glad to Have Helped”
Intentionality
The resistance experiments
Replicating Milgram
Behavioral Study of obedience
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |