Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET Jan 2025 Political Science
Who wrote the book/ article 'Civil Disobedience'?
ABell Hooks
BJames Tully
CHerbert Marcuse
DHenry David Thoreau ✓ Correct
Correct answer: (D) Henry David Thoreau — The essay Civil Disobedience was written by Henry David Thoreau, which is option (4).
Explanation
★The essay Civil Disobedience was written by Henry David Thoreau, which is option (4).
★Thoreau, an American writer and philosopher, first published the essay in 1849, originally titled Resistance to Civil Government.
★In it he argues that individuals should not allow governments to override their conscience and have a moral duty to oppose unjust actions.
★The essay grew out of his refusal to pay a poll tax, for which he spent a night in jail, in protest against slavery and the Mexican American War.
★Thoreau advocated nonviolent resistance to injustice, making the essay a founding text of the idea of civil disobedience.
★His ideas deeply influenced later leaders, most notably Mahatma Gandhi in India and Martin Luther King Jr in the United States.
★Gandhi drew on Thoreau's thought while developing his own technique of Satyagraha and nonviolent non cooperation.
★The essay is therefore an important link between Western political thought and the methods of the Indian freedom struggle.
★The option Bell Hooks is wrong, since she was a twentieth century American feminist and social critic known for works on race, gender and education.
★The option James Tully is wrong, since he is a contemporary Canadian political philosopher known for work on constitutionalism and political theory.
★The option Herbert Marcuse is wrong, since he was a German American philosopher of the Frankfurt School, known for One Dimensional Man.
★Thoreau is also remembered for Walden, his reflection on simple living in natural surroundings.
★The concept of civil disobedience involves the deliberate, public and nonviolent breaking of unjust laws while accepting the legal consequences.
★In the Indian context, civil disobedience became a major strategy through the Civil Disobedience Movement launched by Gandhi in 1930.
★For NET, connect Thoreau's Civil Disobedience of 1849 to its influence on Gandhi and to the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930.
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