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Work #872 · Mid

Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau
1849 (as Resistance to Civil Government in Aesthetic Papers); retitled Civil Disobedience 1866 (posthumous) · English
Political-philosophical essay · Nineteenth-century American transcendentalism / political dissent

Thoreau's 1849 founding essay on principled non-violent resistance to unjust government

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Civil Disobedience (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Single
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Theistic
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Civil Disobedience

The historical moment of slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Space

Civil Disobedience

Concord, Massachusetts, and the jail cell.

Matter

Civil Disobedience

The embodied resisting body.

Observer

Civil Disobedience

Thoreau the dissenting citizen.

Energy

Civil Disobedience

Energies of principled resistance.

Information

Civil Disobedience

The principled argument for non-cooperation.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Civil Disobedience

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience: founding work of the modern theory of civil disobedience; central reference for Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.