Question

Look at Henry David Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government. Do you agree with Thoreau's claim that it is not just our right but our duty to defy unjust laws? What boundaries should exist to those interventions? Support your claims using Resistance to Civil Government and one other assigned reading from this week.

a) Yes, individuals have a duty to resist unjust laws, but within the bounds of peaceful protest.
b) No, defying laws is never justified as it undermines social order.
c) Thoreau's argument lacks relevance in the modern con.
d) Defying unjust laws is a personal choice without societal implications.

Answer 1

Henry David Thoreau argues that individuals have the duty to defy unjust laws, using peaceful protest and nonviolent means. His ideas influenced figures like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Step-by-step explanation:

Henry David Thoreau's essay 'Resistance to Civil Government' argues that individuals have not only the right but also the duty to defy unjust laws. Thoreau believed that a just man should not support a government that enforces unjust policies, and that peaceful protest and nonviolent means should be used to resist such laws. Thoreau's ideas on civil disobedience have influenced figures like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. who advocated for nonviolent protest against unjust laws.