Rawls and Singer

Overview

Rawls defines civil disobedience and argues that the parties in the original position would allow for it on the grounds that civil disobedience is a way of moving a society to conform with principles of justice.

Singer raises questions about whether Rawls’s definition excludes cases from his definition that should also be tolerated.

References

Rawls, John. (1971) 1991. “Definition and Justification of Civil Disobedience.” In Civil Disobedience in Focus, edited by Hugo Adam Bedau, 103–21. Oxford: Taylor & Francis.

Singer, Peter. (1973) 1991. “Disobedience as a Plea for Reconsideration.” In Civil Disobedience in Focus, edited by Hugo Adam Bedau, 122–29. Oxford: Taylor & Francis.