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  • Q. Describe The Relation Between Government & The Individual Reflected in Civil Disobedience by Thoreau?

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    Pollob Ahmed Sagor
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    Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" analyzes the relationship between the individual and the state. Thoreau believed that the ideal government governs least and does not interfere with individual freedom unless it clashes with societal interests. However, he felt the U.S. government of his time did not meet this ideal due to its support of slavery and the Mexican-American War. Thoreau argues that conscience, not the will of the majority, should guide government and law. An individual's moral sense, as informed by their conscience, takes precedence over unjust or immoral laws. Therefore, civil disobedience is justified when one's conscience conflicts with the dictates of the state.

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    Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" analyzes the relationship between the individual and the state. Thoreau believed that the ideal government governs least and does not interfere with individual freedom unless it clashes with societal interests. However, he felt the U.S. government of his time did not meet this ideal due to its support of slavery and the Mexican-American War. Thoreau argues that conscience, not the will of the majority, should guide government and law. An individual's moral sense, as informed by their conscience, takes precedence over unjust or immoral laws. Therefore, civil disobedience is justified when one's conscience conflicts with the dictates of the state.

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    52 views2 pages

    Q. Describe The Relation Between Government & The Individual Reflected in Civil Disobedience by Thoreau?

    Uploaded by

    Pollob Ahmed Sagor
    Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" analyzes the relationship between the individual and the state. Thoreau believed that the ideal government governs least and does not interfere with individual freedom unless it clashes with societal interests. However, he felt the U.S. government of his time did not meet this ideal due to its support of slavery and the Mexican-American War. Thoreau argues that conscience, not the will of the majority, should guide government and law. An individual's moral sense, as informed by their conscience, takes precedence over unjust or immoral laws. Therefore, civil disobedience is justified when one's conscience conflicts with the dictates of the state.

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    Q.

    Describe the relation between Government & the Individual reflected in Civil
    Disobedience by Thoreau?
    Answer:

    In the Essay “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau appears as a social rebel and a critic
    published under the title “Resistance of American government and society of his
    time. ‘Civil Disobedience’ established his reputation in the wider political
    world. Thoreau’s political theories were not well known during his own time. They
    were usually presented as lectures to small audiences or as articles. In 1849, Civil
    Disobedience was to Civil Government”. It is one of the most influential political
    tracts ever written by an American.
    This essay mainly deals with the relation between the citizen and the state.
    It also talks about the nature of the Government, state and the individual. The
    essay opens with a paradoxical view. According to Thoreau ‘That government is
    best which governs the least’. That means Thoreau is in famous of the absolute
    freedom of the individual citizen of a state. This absolute freedom should be the
    basis of an ideal from of democracy. Then the government will not interfere with
    the activities of the citizens as long as those activities will not clash with the
    interest of the members of the society.
    According to Thoreau, the government of his day did not come close to this
    ideal for two basic reasons: slavery and the Mexican-American war. It is important
    to remember that, although Thoreau’s imprisonment was a protest against
    slavery, Civil Disobedience was written after the outbreak of the Mexican-
    American war and protests both slavery and war.
    Civil Disobedience is an analysis of the individual’s relationship to the state
    that focuses on why men obey governmental law even when they believed it to
    be unjust. But Civil Disobedience is not an essay of abstract theory. It
    is Thoreau’s extremely personal response to being imprisoned for breaking the
    law. He was arrested for not paying the taxes. One of his aunts paid the taxes and
    he was released from the jail the next morning. This one night’s experience led
    him to write his most famous essay on “Civil Disobedience”.
    According to Thoreau, conscience should be the guiding force of
    government or law. He gives the highest importance to conscience and the least
    importance to the majority. His whole concept of civil disobedience is based on
    the dictates of conscience. The human beings possess this conscience, not the
    animals. Since a state consists of human beings, the conscience should be the
    guiding force, not majority. Thoreau thinks that the majority in a so-
    called democratic state is permitted to rule for long, not because they are most
    likely to be in the right, but because they are physically the strongest. Thoreau
    says that conscience makes an individual strong and self-reliant. This God gifted
    conscience should decide what is just and what unjust, not brute majority. That is
    why a man is a man first and secondly a citizen of state.
    Thoreau further says that the masses of men serve the state, not mainly as men,
    but as machines. They all constitute the army, police, militia, jailors etc. we see
    soldiers marching to wars, against their will and conscience. They do not exercise
    judgment or moral sense. Yet they are regarded as good citizens. But those who
    serve the state with conscience are commonly treated as enemies.
              Thus, Thoreau has considered the relation between the state and the
    individual at different levels, and has convincingly shown that individual, and
    individual conscience should be the basis of a good state.

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