3 years ago I asked a political philosopher a question at a talk and in response she told me that you can enforce laws without coercion. What does this mean
But assuming there is some difference between the two words I kind of feel like "the rule of the road" is an example of a norm being passively "enforced" without someone going out of their way to directly "coerce" you
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Like I specifically see "rules of the road" being used as a metaphor to mean situations like that Like it's not that I'm shaming you to drive down the right side and not the left, or persuading you, or making you feel bad
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My physical presence in my car driving down the right side is itself an incentive for you not to drive on the left side, it physically creates the danger of a disastrous collision But I'm not deliberately seeking you out to punish your for a crime, I don't even know you exist
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But the point is that the enforcement mechanisms exist as consequences, either for traffic violations or in liability. Rules of grammar can be enforced, but outside of elementary school are rarely coercive.
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I think that's kind of my point, rules and norms like that are "enforced" in the sense that bad things happen if you fail to obey them - failure to get where you're going, failure to successfully communicate - but people aren't generally making a deliberate act of "enforcement"
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