Quote:
Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas  The term was coined by HD Thoreau to describe public disobedience for laws considered unjust.
Uniform to acts of civil disobedience is some notion of a moral responsibility to disobey some law or directive. The objective is usually to communicate some message, namely that the law being disobeyed is unjust or wrong.
So, is civil disobedience acceptable? and if so, under what conditions? |
The central point is that positive law is not moral law, and the existence of morality would dictate that we have an obligation to abide by our morals. If there exists morality, then we must obey this moral law, even if it conflicts with existing positive law.
In the end, it is not so much whether civil disobedience is acceptable, it is that acting against moral law is unacceptable.
Of course I was very careful to avoid just what these moral obligations are (or even if they exist) because that is an entirely different question.