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Civil Disobedience

• Henry David Thoreau

2
What does it mean to be a good citizen?

• Vote in elections?
• Conform to majority opinion?
• Participate in protest marches?
• Obey laws?
• Other ideas?
• Always, usually, sometimes, or never?

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Three ways to serve the state?

• P. 372 2 starting with line 65
• With their bodies
• Army, militia, etc.
• No judgment
• Heads
• Legislators, politicians
• Dont make moral distinctions
• Consciences
• Heroes, patriots, reformers
• Often resist the state

4
What is your first reaction to Thoreaus ideas on
civil disobedience, or nonviolent resistance?
5
According to Thoreau, what should be respected
more than the law?

• Conscience
• Must the citizen ever for a moment resign his
  conscience to the legislator?
• The only obligation which I have a right to
  assume is to do at any time what I think is
  right.
• Justice
• Law never made men a whit more just
• Example of men who fight in wars they disagree
  with

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What should a citizen do about an unjust law?

• If it is of such a nature that it requires you
  to be the agent of an injustice to another, then,
  I say, break the law.
• If one honest manceasing to hold slaves, were
  actually to withdraw from this copartnershipit
  would be the abolition of slavery in America.

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How does Thoreau respond to being jailed?

• Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
  the true place for a just man is also a prison.
• I did not for a moment feel confined

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2. How convincing do you find Thoreaus argument?

• A man must live according to his nature
• Circumstances under which he advocates breaking
  the law
• His views on majority rule

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3. How important to Thoreaus argument is his
idea about the different ways of serving the
state?

• Three ways of serving state
• Body, mind, conscience

• Its very important because he points out that
  great people serve the state with their
  conscience, and therefore often resist it.

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4. What might some find threatening about
Thoreaus ideas?

• What if everyone resists everything?
• How far is too far with civil disobedience?
• Powerful may be afraid of the power of people
  working together

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5. A paradox is a statement that seems to
contradict itself but may nevertheless suggest an
important truth.

• Example a good citizen must sometimes break the
  law
• That government is best that governs not at all
  (cont. next slide)

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5. (cont) Paradox

• Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
  the true place for a just man is also a prison.
• Those who serve with their conscience often
  resist the state.
• I did not for a moment feel confined, and the
  walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.

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What connections do you see between Thoreaus
views and Gandhis?

• Gandhis satyagraha is similar to Thoreaus
  civil disobedience
• Resist injustice peacefully
• Cheerfully accept the consequences
• We will gladly die and will not so much as touch
  you. But so long as there is yet life in these
  our bones, we will never comply with your
  arbitrary laws.

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Transcendentalist Literature Analysis Chart
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Self-reliance/intuition

• The only obligation which I have a right to
  assume is to do at anytime what I think right.
• What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I
  do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn

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Importance of nature

• Nature/earth
• If a plant cannot live according to its nature,
  it dies and so a man.
• Human nature
• The only obligation which I have a right to
  assume is to do at any time what I think right.

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Free thought and expression

• Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the
  least degree, resign his conscience to the
  legislator?
• Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on
  the alert to point out its faults, and do better
  than it would have them?
• Refused to pay poll tax due to anti-slavery and
  anti-war beliefs

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Importance of individual/nonconformity

• A minority is powerless while it conforms to the
  majority it is not even a minority then but it
  is irresistible when it clogs by its whole
  weight.
• Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the
  machine.

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Confidence

• Let your life be a counter-friction to the
  machine.
• A very few as heroes, patriots, martyrs,
  reformers in the great sense, and men serve the
  state with their consciences also, and so
  necessarily resist it for the most part and they
  are commonly treated as enemies by it.