Hugo Adam Bedau (ed.), Civil Disobedience in Focus.
Essay on Civil Disobedience 1 ESSAY ON CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was a citizen of Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived during the middle of the 19th century. He was a good friend of various literary figures of the day, including Ralph.The issues surrounding civil disobedience have been discussed since at least 399 BC and, in the wake of such recent events as the protest at Tiananmen Square, are still of great relevance. By presenting classic and current philosophical reflections on the issues, this book presents all the basic materials needed for a philosophical assessment of the nature and justification of civil disobedience.Civil disobedience should not be tolerated but essential in keeping a society (Zinn). Justifying civil disobedience involves inequality being demonstrated by the government. One must prove that civil disobedience is the answer to injustice (Bedau). One should take a stand and go against the government if they feel a law to be morally unfair.
David Thoreau’s essay “civil Disobedience,” prompt- ed by Thoreau’s objections to the m exican War as an instrument of the slaveholding interest. 5 Its present.Though, on this note, Hugo A. Bedau points out (and I again agree) that usually it is essential to the purpose of those employing civil disobedience as a means of change, that both the government and the public, know what the intentions of that particular action be.
Martin Luther King, Jr., who also performed civil disobedience in a democracy, asks us to look more closely at the legal channels of change. If they are open in theory, but closed or unfairly obstructed in practice, then the system is not democratic in the way needed to make civil disobedience unnecessary.
