Today Henry David Thoreau is viewed as one of America’s foremost thinkers. Along with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau helped pioneer the transcendental philosophy that recognized the importance of nature. Within this philosophy, Thoreau also advanced a number of perspectives on society, particularly in regards to the most appropriate ways to live an ethical life. In his seminal essay “Civil Disobedience,” he argued that in certain instances the most appropriate behavior was that which directly conflicted with the government and law. Although Thoreau was largely addressing the gross immorality embodied in the United States support of slavery and was writing this text over 150 years ago, many of his ideas on the importance of civil disobedience remain relevant through the present day. The present essay argues that Thoreau’s perspective on the importance and ethical justification for practicing civil disobedience remains just as important in the contemporary world as it was when he wrote about it in 1849.
When one considers modern Western society, it is not difficult to see many instances in which civil disobedience has not only been practiced, but even examples in which greater levels of such behavior should have been undertaken for the betterment of a more just society. Of course, perhaps the most notable example of civil obedience undertaken in recent years was by Edward Snowden who revealed that the American government was spying on its citizens. Regarding this practice, Snowden indicated that, “Self-confessed leaker Edward Snowden says the unconstrained collection of electronic intelligence is destroying civil liberties and creating the conditions for tyranny” (Omand). When one considers that the government was peering into citizens’ private lives without informing them, it is not difficult to see how Snowden’s claims that they were creating the conditions for tyranny were correct. In this respect, Snowden was clearly following Thoreau’s emphasis on following one’s conscience.
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Another prominent and widespread instance in which civil disobedience appears to be occurring for ethically justifiable purposes relates to marijuana use throughout the United States.
One considers Thoreau when he writes, “But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it. Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?” (Thoreau). Here, Thoreau is indicating that merely because a majority decides that something is the correct course of action does not necessarily mean that this is the most just decision making. With the case of marijuana laws (although many states have already implemented decriminalization), the draconian legal punishments appear to be related less to a need to protect society from perceived health risks, and more as a means of targeting disenfranchised people and minorities who are disproportionately punished for these crimes. As such, the substantial and oftentimes illegal use of marijuana by many citizens constitutes further evidence that supports the justification of Thoreau’s beliefs.
Not only is civil disobedience important to practice in Western society, but in the contemporary world it perhaps has even greater importance in other regions. In China, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 resulted in a substantial amount of students speaking out against their governments’ authoritarian practices and demanding freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In the Arab Spring revolts, citizens similarly practice widespread civil disobedience through engaging in a radical revolution against the government. In this instance, the government had been engaged in political corruption, economic decline, and economic policies that were unfavorable to most people. Although these acts of civil disobedience took place a number of years apart, they both clearly follow Thoreau’s proclamation that, “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right” (Thoreau). If these citizens had merely followed their government they would have been mindless sheep, and not critical thinking individuals truly concerned with achieving rights that are guaranteed to them as human beings.
The issue of civil disobedience and its ethical and moral implications for society dates even farther back than Thoreau, and was also an issue that Shakespeare considered in the Renaissance and Sophocles considered in Greek antiquity. Shakespeare addressed this issue perhaps prominently in his play Hamlet, through Prince Hamlet’s deliberations regarding whether or not he should kill the King, Claudius, because he believed that Claudius had killed his father. While it’s unknown if Claudius truly committed this crime, Hamlet’s desire for justification from the state would appear to be appropriate to a degree. In Sophocles’s “Antigone,” civil disobedience is practiced in an even more substantial way when Antigone disobeys Creon’s orders and seeks a proper burial for her brother Polynices. In these instances, despite the government policies that conflicted with the actions that were taken, the individuals actively resisted out of a sense of personal right. This classic literary examples of civil disobedience lend credence to the importance of its practice in the modern world, as it shows that such actions have been consistently needed in society.
In conclusion, the essay has argued that Thoreau’s concept of needing to disobey the government is some situations remains relevant in the contemporary world. Specifically, this is shown through Edward Snowden’s actions, the widespread use of marijuana, protests against authoritarian regimes, and the long-standing occurrence of civil disobedience in literature. Although, as Thoreau himself acknowledged, government is important, it is also essential that citizens remain independent thinkers and exercise their own moral conscience in certain situations.
- Omand, David. “NSA Leaks: How To Make Surveillance Both Ethical And Effective | David
Omand”. The Guardian, 2013,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/11/make-surveillance-ethical-and-
effective.
- Thoreau, Henry. “Civil Disobedience By Henry David Thoreau”. Xroads.Virginia.Edu, 2017,
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html.
