Civil Disobedience in Focus (Philosophers in Focus)

✍ Scribed by Hugo Adam Bedau

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 224
• Series: Philosophers in Focus
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Although the issue of civil disobedience has been discussed as early as 399 B.C., this topic continues to be at the center of much recent debate in the wake of events such as Tiananmen Square and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Civil Disobedience in Focus assembles all the basic materials, both classic and contemporary, needed for the philosophical assessment of this controversial subject.
The first part of this work explores the three most influential classic arguments: Plato in the Crito, Thoreau in the 1840s, and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s. The second part of this book shifts to a contemporary philosophical discussion setting forth the most important reflections by a number of today's leading thinkers. Included is John Rawls's definition and justification of civil disobedience in liberal democracy which has provoked much dicussion. The other essays, written by contemporary British and American thinkers, bring into sharp relief the issues -- conceptual, normative, and political -- raised in the classic arguments.
A stimulating edition, Civil Disobedience in Focus will be invaluable to students of ethics, social/political philosophy, and philosophy of law, as well as to activists.

✦ Table of Contents

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Acknowledgements......Page 7
Introduction......Page 8
CRITO Plato......Page 20
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Henry David Thoreau......Page 35
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR INJUSTICE H. A. Bedau......Page 56
LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM CITY JAIL Martin Luther King, Jr......Page 75
THE CASE AGAINST CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Herbert J. Storing......Page 92
DEFINITION AND JUSTIFICATION OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE John Rawls......Page 110
DISOBEDIENCE AS A PLEA FOR RECONSIDERATION Peter Singer......Page 129
THE JUSTIFIABILITY OF VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE John Morreall......Page 137
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND NON-CO-OPERATION Vinit Haksar......Page 151
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Joseph Raz......Page 166
JUSTIFYING NONVIOLENT DISOBEDIENCE Kent Greenawalt......Page 177
DEFINING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCEBrian Smart......Page 196
Bibliography......Page 219
Index......Page 221