LAWS340

This course is a sustained inquiry into the phenomenon of modern civil disobedience, primarily by way of the thinking and practice of its greatest proponents. It will proceed in two distinct stages. First, it will uncover the pivotal foundations of modern civil disobedience by exploring the lives and times of its founding fathers--Socrates, Thoreau and Tolstoy. We will then turn from foundations to contemporary practice to examine the lives and times of its two greatest practitioners (Gandhi and King), and to critically highlight some of the most salient historical examples of the practice.