PHIL 240 Chapter : PHIL 240 Justifying the State - Civil Disobedience
27 Sep 2011
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Contrary to the idea that there is a moral duty to obey all the laws of the land. Contrasted to revolutionarism, which seeks grand immediate changes, as civil disobedience seeks small immediate changes. This means that civil disobedience can be utilized in an overarching revolutionary narrative (ghandi, etc. ) Contrasted to conscientious objection, which is based on personal motivations. Civil disobedience: deliberate, principled illegal conduct with a limited, immediate public and political aim. Two suppositions derived from the definition: action must be based on moral judgements, action must be contrary to laws of the state. Example: if i break a law that i hold to actually not be a law (constitutional appeal, for example), that"s not civil disobedience. If i break a law that is not enforced, that"s not civil disobedience. If likely to produce beneficial social change. However, the likelihood of success doesn"t diminish the moral good of the issue itself.
