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Philosophy

The Justification of Civil Disobedience

Quick fact

Henry David Thoreau's 1849 essay 'Civil Disobedience' (originally titled 'Resistance to Civil Government') argued that it is not only permissible but a moral duty to resist unjust laws, and his ideas influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Why this is interesting

When is it right to break the law? You are taught to obey it, yet history celebrates those who proudly defy it—but only for what many call 'just causes.' That puzzle lies at the heart of civil disobedience.