(If you are in IME 4020, this is a topic for Dr. Young's side of the class.)

(Please note that this prompt was heavily reworked on 3/22/26)

For your next paper you should deeply logically analyze this topic as described in the following prompt, and, when you have done that, only then write up a proper (minumum three page) Thesis Paper fully describing, clarifying, supporting, and defending what you presently think is the most logically supportable conclusion we can come to about this topic.(Three pages, double spaced, odf, .doc. .docx, .pdf, submit through Turnitin.com.)
    A Thesis Paper starts with a statement of your thesis (or "unthesis") as its very first sentence.
    A Thesis Paper does not have an introduction.
    A Thesis Paper does not have a conclusion.
If you would like more general guidance on how to write a next stage thesis paper, see the follow-up rules.

Is Civil Disobedience Morally Allowable?

<added 4/3/2026> "On the most widely accepted account, civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies (Rawls 1999, 320). On this account, people who engage in civil disobedience operate at the boundary of fidelity to law, have general respect for their regime, and are willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions, as evidence of their fidelity to the rule of law. Civil disobedience, given its place at the boundary of fidelity to law, is said on this view to fall between legal protest, on the one hand, and conscientious refusal, uncivil disobedience, militant protest, organized forcible resistance, and revolutionary action, on the other hand." (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/)

Also see Civil Disobedience and Its Effects in Recent History Through 12 Examples,

Bearing this definition and these examples constantly in mind, please analyze some arguments for and against the moral allowability of civil disobedience.

If you require more clarity on what civil disobedience is and isn't, please read the definition of civil disobedience in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/#PrinDis

Your question here is whether civil disobedience is morally prohibited, morally allowable, or even morally required.

Remember that there's a difference between civil disobedience and ordinary forms of fully-legal protest, and between civil disobedience and rioting.

The links given below lead to articles containing several claims and arguments about civil disobedience. You may pick a particular controversial claim or question about civil disobedience, find arguments on both sides, analyze and evaluate those arguments, think the issue through all the way, and then write a paper giving the results of your analysis.

(Odyssey Writing might help with this.)

Links

https://connectusfund.org/19-major-pros-and-cons-of-civil-disobedience

https://www.knowswhy.com/best-arguments-against-civil-disobedience/

https://apecsec.org/5-pros-and-cons-of-civil-disobedience/

https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/report/the-limits-and-dangers-civil-disobedience-the-case-martin-luther-king-jr

https://www.thecollector.com/john-rawls-civil-disobedience/

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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