Rawls – Civil Disobedience
1. Practitioners of civil disobedience demonstrate fidelity to law, but political rioters do not. Draw on Rawls’s theory of civil disobedience to explain why it can be important for those who break the law as a form of protest to express respect for the authority of the state, and say how, according to Rawls, protesters should go about expressing this respect. In your opinion, should those who break the law as a form of protest always attempt to demonstrate fidelity to law? If so, why? If not, why not?
2. John Stuart Mill argues that the state is never warranted in interfering with a person’s liberty in order to prevent harm to that person. In his essay ‘Paternalism,’ Gerald Dwork in disagrees with this claim. What is Dworkin’s view about when the state is warranted in creating paternalistic laws, and how does he defend it? Raise at least one objection to Dworkin’s view. Is the objection successful? Why or why not?