Last updated on November 22, 2022
The most important gift humans have received is the gift of virtue. Genesis speaks of this gift in the story of Adam and Eve having been banned from the Garden of Eden. In the story, Eve eats the apple from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil–in other words, the tree that provides knowledge of morality. When humans attain knowledge of morality by eating of the tree, they are cast out of the Garden. Although this seems negative, it is actually the moment at which human beings are no longer animals living in nature but truly human, God-like, or “made in the image of God.” At this moment, humans become capable of not only free will but of making moral decisions, the only decisions that make us akin to God Himself. Thus, virtue is the most important and defining characteristic of a human; it is that which sets us apart from other animals. It is in the service of inspiring such virtue on which civilization is and ought to be based, and for which civilization has been created. However, civilization sometimes goes astray, requiring that its citizens be beholden to an unjust law. Here, civil discourse is necessary. I will argue that civil discourse–the discussion that occurs within and about the state–requires the act of civil disobedience–the disobeying of the state’s immoral laws–in order for humans to maintain the virtue that defines us.
There is a significant relationship between the terms “civil,” a reference to the state, and “civil,” polite or appropriate behavior. “Civilization” is when humans no longer act as animals; thus civility, the behavior expected of a virtuous person, only occurs within civilization. In a civilization, we act as humans, with morality and rationality. Our rules and laws, therefore, should be moral and rational. The most defining human action we can take is the pursuit of morality, but by following an unjust law, we are no longer behaving as humans. Thus, there is nothing more human than to break an unjust law in the pursuit of virtue. There is nothing more human than to act.
Though “discourse” is generally defined as the written or spoken word, there are times when words aren’t enough. Famous American Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau illustrates the necessity of civil disobedience nicely. In 1846, Thoreau refused to pay the poll tax as a protest against slavery and the Mexican-American War. Consequently, he spent a night in jail. Later, Theoreau wrote, “I will not disregard my humanity for the law” in his famous essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Thoreau maintains that the most important human characteristic is our virtue, but simply speaking about an unjust law does not put an end to it, nor does it keep us from sacrificing our humanity. Only action in direct opposition to the law can keep our humanity intact; only action is an appropriate response to injustice. The spoken or written word, as powerful as it may be, cannot do the job. Thus Thoreau: if a law “is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.” Here, Thoreau reminds us that virtue is of greater importance than our duty to our government, particularly if that government is unjust. Direct action, he says, is the only reasonable moral response.
It’s for this reason that disobedient behavior must remain part of civil discourse, a fact upon which American independence is founded. The Stamp Act Riots were a direct response to the unjust Stamp and Sugar Acts, which forced colonists to pay a tax when purchasing specially stamped paper and sugar. Unsurprisingly, the colonists saw the Stamp Act of 1765 as an unjust law. They began rioting violently, burning houses, hanging effigies, and protesting in the streets. As a direct response to the colonists’ civil disobedience, both the Stamp and Sugar Act of 1764 were repealed by the British Parliament. This example clearly shows how important civil disobedience is in civil discourse. Merely distributing pamphlets and engaging in debates about what should be done did not achieve the colonists’ goals of justice; action was required.
The gift of virtue, given to us by Adam and Eve, has allowed us to be human. Without it, we would have remained in the Garden, wholly animals. This gift of humanity is the most precious of all; unfortunately, however, it sometimes requires that we fight for it. When an unjust government acts against our humanity, we have an obligation to act in response. Thus, civil disobedience is an essential part of civil discourse and, at times, the only response that allows us to retain our greatest gift: our humanity.
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