Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Piero Moraro, Civil Disobedience: A Philosophical Overview

  • Book Review
  • Published:
Criminal Law and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Piero Moraro offers an illuminating and insightful survey of the philosophical literature on civil disobedience, illustrating how the conversation has evolved since the debates triggered by the social movements of the 1960s. The principal value of the book is that it showcases the multifaceted complexion of the emerging philosophical terrain, thus correcting the erroneous but still common perception that civil disobedience is a mere adjunct to interminable debates about the duty to obey. The book also offers original contributions to the field that draw on Moraro’s commitment to virtue ethics, though these contributions are perhaps not set out in as much depth and detail as they might have been.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Henceforth references to this text will appear in parenthesis.

  2. Readers are thus encouraged to consult the extended elaboration of the argument in Moraro (2018).

  3. To be clear: it does not follow that Moraro is committed to moral criticism of these tactics. His argument is merely that it is impossible to characterize them as manifestations of civility, a position that would likely also be endorsed by some recent defenders of incivility (e.g. Delmas 2018).

References

  • Brennan, J. (2013). ‘A Theory of Civil Disobedience in Three Minutes’, Bleeding Heart Libertarians, at http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2013/08/a-theory-of-civil-disobedience-in-three-minutes/ (accessed Dec 2020).

  • Brownlee, K. (2012). Conscience and Conviction: The Case for Civil Disobedience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Delmas, C. (2018). A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience Should Be Uncivil. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, D. (1998). ‘Moral Judgment, Historical Reality, and Civil Disobedience’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 27: 31–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moraro, P. (2019). Civil Disobedience: A Philosophical Overview. London: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moraro, P. (2018). ‘On (Not) Accepting the Punishment for Civil Disobedience’, Philosophical Quarterly, 68: 503–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pateman, C. (1979). The Problem of Political Obligation: A Critique of Liberal Theory. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, W. (2013). Civil Disobedience and Deliberative Democracy. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Government and Public Administration, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    William Smith

Authors
  1. William Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William Smith.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smith, W. Piero Moraro, Civil Disobedience: A Philosophical Overview. Criminal Law, Philosophy 16, 651–656 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-021-09598-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-021-09598-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation