Self-study
If an act of civil disobedience—willfully breaking a specific law in order to bring about legal reform—is done out of self-interest alone and not out of a concern for others, it cannot be justified. ███ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ █████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██ ██ ███
Summary
Domain: acts of civil disobedience
(1) If done out of self-interest alone → NOT justified
(2) If one’s conscience requires the act → justified
Find or Complete the Application
The correct answer will involve an act of civil disobedience and one of the following:
(1) Conclusion that the act was NOT justified, premise establishes act was done out of self-interest alone
OR
(2) Conclusion that the act WAS justified, premise establishes that conscience required the act
23.
Which one of the following █████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██████
a
Keisha's protest against ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ███████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████████
Wrong trigger. If we want to prove that Keisha’s act was justified, we want to use principle (2). We want to know that her conscience rqeuired the act. But (A) doesn’t establish that her conscience required the act. (And no, the contrapositive of (1) doesn’t support this argument. The contrapositive of (1) tells us that IF an act is justified, then .... That doesn’t allow us to conclude that an act is justified. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)
b
Janice's protest against █ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████
Wrong trigger. To prove that an act is NOT justified, we want to use principle (1). We want to establish that the act was done out of self interest alone. But (B) doesn’t establish that. (And no, the contrapositive of (2) doesn’t allow us to conclude that an act wasn’t justified. The contrapositive of (2) means IF an act was not justified, then .... That doesn’t allow us to prove that an act is not justified. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)
c
In organizing an ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ████████
Wrong trigger. If we want to prove that Georgette’s act was justified, we want to use principle (2). We want to know that her conscience rqeuired the act. But (C) doesn’t establish that her conscience required the act. (And no, the contrapositive of (1) doesn’t support this argument. The contrapositive of (1) tells us that IF an act is justified, then .... That doesn’t allow us to conclude that an act is justified. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)
d
Maria's deliberate violation ██ █ ███ █████████ ██████████████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████
(D) establishes that Maria violated the law because her conscience required it. Thus, according to principle (2), we can conclude that her act was justified.
e
In organizing a ██████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████████ █ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ████████ ███ ███████
Wrong trigger. To prove that an act is NOT justified, we want to use principle (1). We want to establish that the act was done out of self interest alone. But (E) doesn’t establish that. (And no, the contrapositive of (2) doesn’t allow us to conclude that an act wasn’t justified. The contrapositive of (2) means IF an act was not justified, then .... That doesn’t allow us to prove that an act is not justified. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)