Michael Walzer

Michael Walzer

Michael Walzer (born March 3, 1935) is a prominent American political theorist and public intellectual.

Quotes

• According to liberal political theory, as first formulated by John Locke, any individual citizen, oppressed by the rulers of the state, has a right to disobey their commands, break their laws, even rebel and seek to replace the rulers and change the laws.
  • "The Obligation to Disobey," Ethics, Vol. 77, No. 3 (April 1967), p. 163

• Disobedience, when it is not criminally but morally, religiously, or politically motivated, is almost always a collective act, and it is justified by the values of the collectivity and the mutual engagements of its members.
  • "The Obligation to Disobey," Ethics, Vol. 77, No. 3 (April 1967), p. 163