...- 2 – The LD File Civil Disobedience Index Topic Overview 3-7 Definitions 8-10 Affirmative Cases 11-19 Negative Cases 20-25 Affirmative Extensions 26-34 Civil disobedience worked to free India. 26 Civil disobedience overthrew the communists in Poland. 26 The tradition of civil disobedience in America goes all the way back to the founders. 26 Civil disobedience can serve to prevent situations from escalating into violence. 27 Civil Disobedience has been used to promote peace. 27 Civil disobedience was used to promote racial equality. 27 Civil disobedience is used to try to prevent the destruction of the environment. 27 Civil disobedience is effective at changing the law. 28 Legal channels can take too long. 28 Consent to obey just laws does not imply consent to obey unjust ones. 28 Distinguishing between just and unjust laws to disobey can be universalized. 28 Civil disobedience can be stabilizing to a community by spreading a shared sense of justice. 29 Sometimes it is only the unjustified response to civil disobedience that has harmful consequence. 29 Civil disobedience is traditionally non-violent. 29 Civil disobedience is a form of exercising free speech- which is essential in a democracy. 30 Civil disobedience has been used to fight slave laws 30 Civil disobedience played a role in ending the Vietnam war. 30 Civil disobedience shouldn’t be punished-...
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...themselves with whether or not breaking the law can be justified. Some questions through which this query has been posed include, Should people be allowed to break the law? Should individuals be able to ignore the laws in which they do not believe? Can breaking the law ever be justified, morally or ethically? In his situation, King discusses how many other countries are moving forward in how they develop and treat others. He criticizes the United States as they creep forward with the pace of a horse and buggy when it comes to civil rights. He discusses how those who were not while have been lynched, beaten, killed, prosecuted, turned away from and denied access to certain places and ridiculed with mean language. King and his followers supported the de-segregation laws which opened up schools to children of all colors, but broke laws that he did not agree with and, to clarify, he separated the laws into those which are just and those which are unjust. To promote his point, he quoted St. Augustine as saying, “An unjust law is no law at all,” as it is not rooted in eternal and natural law (King, 2013). It is likely that there are situations in which breaking the law would be justifiable, as proposed by King, as well as many others. Some, such as John Rawls, have set forth guidelines to determine whether or not breaking a law would be justified. Rawls believed that there must be a clear injustice, the act of disobedience must be a public act which is both non-violent and non-threatening...
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...Civil disobedience is something that is prevalent in today's society. It seems to be an element of symbolism or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the law as a whole. Seemingly groups of individuals protest for or against various institutions that they deem to be unjustified. Most recently the shootings of unarmed African-American men have maintained a steady discourse for civil disobedience. Are the actions of the protestors justified or are they being disobedient? One could argue either way, however, the justification or in justification of such violation of civil rights manifest in the ideas that the populations feels necessary. While many individuals may not understand the objectivity of civil disobedience, others feel it is their justified right to protest, peaceful or not, regardless of what the law states. The media and public are outraged by the prevalence of killing unarmed African Americans and the massive civil rights violations that occur within this community more frequently than other ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds....
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...30 April 2013 Civil Disobedience When should civil disobedience be justified? Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey government laws, in an effort to bring upon a change in governmental policy or legislation. Civil disobedience is not an effort to dissolve the American government, because without government our society would result in chaos. Sometimes, when there is an unjust law and the government won't take the initiative to fix it, the public must act as civil disobedient to bring awareness and fix the unjust law. There have been times when citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government because of an issue that is unjust. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau made such actions to prove their point. Civil disobedience is justified when its goal is to obtain equal rights and service for everyone, without causing physical damage to people and their property, and without breaking the just laws that are already enforced. It should only be practiced when the government fails to uphold justice and fix laws that don't allow everyone the equal rights already given to some. In his essay, "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau wrote in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression...
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...to the laws. This is because they would be owning their obedience to their fellow citizens. All of whom obey the laws, even if some are specific to certain groups. The doctrine establishes the idea that each citizen owes it to their fellow citizen because doing so would further the advantages the entire populace receives. The fact that the two are citizens and enjoy the benefits of society, they too must obey the law so that these benefits can continue to be enjoyed; regardless of the loss or constraints liberties they are experiencing. Mill’s Argument Mill is in favor of limited government, as such, I would assert the opinion that he would be against aspects of this law. However, the law in question is not what he would against. Rather, how the law is enforced and by what ways the law had come into being would be the issue. The concept of limited government established that liberty of an individual is allowed to flush and restrained as little as possible. It is even more restrained when one’s happiness is infringed upon. “For Mill, sort-term or even intermediate-term calculations of happiness were a wholly inadequate means of making moral judgments about human...
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...Thoreau, 1849, “Civil Disobedience”) According to “Documents of Freedom,” Civil disobedience is when “Men such as Martin Luther King, Jr. violated unjust laws but willingly accepted the punishment that came with violating the law… often confused with simply violating laws that you do not like…Civil disobedience demands to accept the punishment otherwise, there would be no principled distinction between civil disobedience and mere lawlessness” (“The Documents of Freedom”). Peaceful resistance does positively impact a free society. Take Gandhi for example, he non-violently protested the registration law, through non-violent marches and labor strikes, all harmless, and in support of those who were treated unequally by the registration law, “The Boer government then agreed to end the most objectionable parts of the...
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..."You must never be fearful of what you are doing when it is right." Spoken elegantly in the words of a leading historical figure in Civil Disobedience, Rosa Parks perfectly captures the meaning, integrity, and even necessity of nonviolent rebellion in situations of legal and social injustice. It is not only the right, but the moral duty of the people in a free society to stand up to the law if it violates the God-given rights of its people. If the citizens of a free society are never to protest legislation that oppresses them, how can such a society even be considered free? People of a free society have the ability and the obligation to stand up for their beliefs through nonviolent means. It is an obligation because we are conscious beings...
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...OUTLINE CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION A. Introductory Statement B. Statement of the Problem C. Significance of the Study D. Theoretical Framework E. Scope and Limitation F. Review of Related Literature CHAPTER TWO: JOHN RAWLS PHILOSOPHY A. Biography of John Rawls CHAPTER THREE: PHILIPPINE TAXATION A. Concept of Taxation B. Nature of Taxation and Its purpose C. Concept of Income Taxation D. Purpose of Taxation E. Current Uses of Taxation CHAPTER FOUR: SOCIAL JUSTICE IN TAXATION A. Social Justice B. Principles of Justice C. Well Ordered Society D. Original Position E. Veil of Ignorance F. Civil Disobedience CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION A. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT The works of John Rawls was basically centered on justice as depicted on his work “Theory of Justice” and “Political Liberalism. John Rawls is considered to be one of the most influential philosophers during his time as he specialized in the concept of justice and fairness as a tool for attaining social justice in the society. His works received various criticisms since it may be viewed as unrealistic but though it may be criticized, his works are one of the influential and most bought book and already translated in various language to be used as curriculum in philosophy classes. Rawls differentiate the concept of justice and fairness as he tried to show that the idea of justice is fairness and...
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...When it comes to the pretention of Civil Disobedience and what can be seen as acts of indirect and direct civil disobedience. H.A. Bedau and Henry David Thoreau come to mind because of how they both saw things in different light but at a meaningful level they both thought the same about the government even through they expressed there ideals in completely different ways. Their ideas cross on many different paths as to which even Bedau talks about Thoreau in his essay in regards to being “responsible” for your actions. The main premise of Bedau’s argument in his essay of “civil disobedience and personal responsibility for justice” is to compare the idea of what is civil disobedience and who is responsible for the actions. Bedau spends a great...
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...TomMendez Hacktivism and Civil Disobedience Hacktivism, though preferred by hackers and hacktivists to be kept without a definition, is generally thought of as hacking for a political cause. Hackers, those who have deep knowledge and understanding of the Internet and computer systems and networks, thrive on the openness and freedom the internet provides. Steven Levy’s “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution” published nearly three decades ago outlines the hacker’s creeds: 1. Access to computers should be unlimited and total. 2. All information should be free. 3. Mistrust authority – promote decentralization. 4. Hackers should be judged by their hacking not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position. 5. You create art and beauty on a computer. 6. Computers can change your life for the better. The operating system Linux, still widely used today, was created to conform to this ethical code. Linux pioneer Richard Stallman with the help of Linus Torvalds developed the GNU/Linux operating system. The software was made available under the General Public License, nicknamed “copyleft” (as opposed to copyright), meaning that the software was free to have and modify for anyone so long as users make the source freely available to others. This has created an open global community that “thrives on the free flow and sharing of information” (metac0m 1). Metac0m, the editor of The Hacktivist Magazine tells us “Hackers abhor censorship. Censorship...
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...After the controversial Michael Brown shooting, police officers’ interactions with non-white citizens have received national attention. Police violence has remained a prominent issue with the Ferguson and Baltimore protests causing people to either support or oppose the protest. Some people criticized the protesters for being violent while others saw them as an effective attempt to bring about change in the interactions between police departments and citizens of color. To evaluate the validity of the protesters’ actions, the issues that gave rise to the protests must be fully appreciated to understand if the protest response was justified and will be capable of promoting beneficial change. In Baltimore the focal point of the police violence was the homicide of Freddie Gray. In this case Gray, a 35 year old healthy black man, was arrested. He was then transported in a police van where he sustained injuries to his neck and spinal cord leaving him in a coma. At this point, he was taken to a trauma center where he died a week later. Initially the police officers were unable to account for the injuries or produce a consistent timeline for the arrest, transportation, and medical treatment. This angered the residents of...
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...The Socratic dialogues deal with the definition of certain types of virtue, and how these specific virtues (for example, courage or piety) fit in to the overall definition of doing good and living by the correct moral standards. The dialogues of the Apology and the Crito deal with the trial and sentencing of Socrates, facilitating a discussion about an individual's morality in abiding by the law. Socrates does show us that civil law should be treated as a moral obligation, by proving that to ignore the rule of law would be to commit moral wrong. He then qualifies this by illustrating that lawfulness is not always equal to virtuousness, and explaining how to remain virtuous without damaging the authority of the law. Further examination of his arguments in regards to civil disobedience reveal inconsistency and the necessity for further development. SOCRATES' MORAL OBLIGATION TO CIVIL LAW In the Crito, Socrates gives an explanation about why he must remain in his jail cell and accept his sentence by using moral reasoning. The most important facet in his argument is the claim (which the interlocutor Crito quickly agrees to) that it is never justified to do evil. No matter what has been suffered before, no matter what good comes of it, doing wrong is unacceptable to Socrates any way you put it. He clearly states the underlying principle for the rest of his argument will be that "neither injury nor retaliation nor warding off evil by evil is ever right" (Crito 49d/e). ...
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...Unjust Justice: The Reasons behind Uncivil Acts of Violence Justified violence. The very words themselves conjure up images of righteous, justified acts, picture your stereotypical law enforcement officer taking down a violent criminal, or military personnel firing upon insurgents and terrorists. These are the prototypical acts that we imagine upon encountering the idea of ‘justified violence’. But when one takes a different perspective on the malleable definition of what constitutes an act of violence being ‘justified’, a fine line is often crossed over legality of the violence that ensues. “Uncivil disobedients” is a term coined by scholar Jennet Kirkpatrick in her book Uncivil Disobedience: Studies in Violence and Democratic Politics, describing these ‘disobedients’ as citizens that break the law because of their belief that their violence is truly done because they believe their efforts are honorable and justified, despite issues of legality or immorality as perceived by others (13). Thus a complex relationship arises between these uncivil disobedients and the law and the treading of the fine line between what is legal and illegal with their actions. Kirkpatrick provides numerous examples of these disobedients, namely western frontier vigilantes and southern lynch mobs. What these unique groups had, despite having varying agendas, was a similar mindset in accomplishing their goals, using violence to meet their demands, often times going above and beyond the grasp of...
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...Famous Thinkers All famous thinkers have a few things in common that make them achieve the level of greatness they acquire through life. Creative ideas are the foundation of the creative process (Goodman and Fritchie, 2011). Many of these ideas revolve around finding a solution to a problem, or changing the way people think about approaching issues. The two famous thinkers this paper will examine—Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), and Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) each used the creative process to change the way people viewed the issues of the day. They each made specific contributions to society during difficult social times. The subject of this paper will examine the specific problems or ideas both of these famous thinkers sought to solve, and the solutions they came up with for implementation. The ideas and solutions met with interference from people opposing the change, and many of the solutions were is a constant state of refinement, but their individual solutions all met the test of logic, enabling them to overcome the difficulties and opposition to resolutions. The thinking of these two men went a long way in changing the way people thought, and shaped the outcome of their individual issues for the better. Russell for analytical philosophy based in realism, and King in defeating the injustice of segregation and inequality. Both men looked at the problem in different ways to find different perspectives that no one else had visited. They both were able to visualize...
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...Ethical Scrapbook Part II Rosieanna Smith-Lee, April Chiofalo Johnson, Eddie Little, Inez Gonzales, Melody Kibbe CJA/324 June 2, 2014 Instructor Angela J. Sonsalla Ethical Scrapbook Part II Clearly for one to understand and practice ethical behaviors, they must know what ethics means. Ethics is a set of standards that informs individuals how they should behave in every aspect of our lives. Because ethics involves seeing the differences between right and wrong, an individual must make a commitment to do what is right by any means necessary. Ethics is not just doing what an individual must do but also doing what an individual should do. Many individuals failed to realize when they perform unethical behaviors there is a price to pay and not taking the time to think things through before they act may cost them their livelihood as well as damage their credibility and character. However, practicing good ethics can result in one gaining respect integrity among the individuals one interacts with daily. Because all individuals are different and not one individual thinks or view things the same, it easy to determine that as it relates to ethics each individual may have different viewpoints. This ethical scrapbook explored 12 examples related to ethical and unethical values and morals as a team to determine what examples we agreed on and what examples we did not agree on as well as allowed the team to discuss what the disagreement...
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