From Civil Disobedience To Moderate Resistance

Ralws'theory of civil disobedience originates from the western tradition of nature law. He put forward two principle of justice through formulating the validity problem of nation. However, his theory is used in an ideal state. While facing the nonideal state, he not only maintains the theory of civil disobedience about the western classical ideologist, but also improves it. In fact, he provides a good means of rescues basing on moral for the western country under the rule of law.In the text, I'll plan to illuminate what succession Ralws get in the field of civil disobedience. By comparing the theory of Ralws with Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, I problem want to reveal the differences among them. In the introduction and part 1, I'll sketch Sophocles's famous tragedy Antigone, and elicit the topic of the paper-why civil disobey. According to the discussion about the two traditions, we have outlined the dispute problem whether to obey law or not. And I believe it is possible to solve the problem in a Ralws' way which has much to do with civil disobedience. Besides, I will retrospect the civil disobedience of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, which paves the way for next part.In Part 2, we shall dwell on how Rawls induce the validity of nation, and then conclude his two principle of justice——Equal and Difference principle. There are the principles, however, it is not that laws and rules made by nation are absolutely justice. This is because people's ration is not perfect-As it will bring injustice rules and systems due to many factors, even if this principle is selected by themselves. When the case has happened, Ralws also deal with the question that whether civil citizen must obey or not, even if he knows it is injustice and have gone beyond the range of personal tolerance. So he puts forward the theory of civil disobedience, which claims that civil should fight against the state, injustice laws that infringe their rights by moderate and non-violent resistance and conscientious refusal. Rawls'aim doesn't overthrow the state or rules and system in a revolutionary way, on the contrary, he'd rather improve them.In Part 3 and 4, we will discuss Ralws'theory of Political Liberalism and interpret some problems he had mentioned in it. In order to explain the problems clearly, we will outline the classical liberalism ideologist's formulation about the validity of nation and introduce their theory of civil disobedience by taking Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau for example. As Rawls'theory is not only an inheritance to them, but also an improvement. There may be a vital problem why does Ralws deal with the problem of civil disobedience after having discussed it in the theory of justice, which supplement or amend the former theory? In the end, we try to put forward the answer of myself: maybe, Rawls want to explain it is legitimate more in-depth that the behavior of moderate resistance building on the factor of moral conscience. The attempt which Ralws'theory of civil disobedience is reconstructed and clarified is conductive to our understanding.