Reply #39: "No longer existant does not mean never existed."

[ZombieHorde]

I agree, my children's club argument was bad.

Suppose a group of people from 1785 were to Rip Van Winkle themselves to 1835. They would still 'imagine' the Articles of Confederation to be the law of the land and their state currency to have value, yet neither would be the case even if they didn't encounter anyone who knew otherwise. This is because government, monetary value, laws, etc. operate independently of human imagination. Another example would be a group of children who are ignorant of the government under which they live. They don't imagine their local government, yet it operates.

I agree, even if someone has no concept of a law, that person may be affected by it. The reason is other people do have a concept of the law, and they act on those concepts.

Laws are agreements some people make. Legislators pass a law, "no smoking in schools." The police have already agreed to enforce any law the legislator has passed. The schools agree to cooperate, most of the students agree to cooperate, etc. I think we both agree on this.

What is the source of agreements? Where are agreements? I think the answer is our imaginations.