Civil disobedience in the social theory of Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

In her essay, "The Concept of Social Hierarchy in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas," Katherine Archibald claims that the properly ordered society, according to Thomas Aquinas, is one that is based on the natural inequality of peoples, with dominance and subordination being the key to that order. On the contrary, Aquinas's social theory includes criteria for determining when civil disobedience is justified and perhaps even obligatory. There are four classes of civil disobedience: the selfish disobedience of an unjust law; the selfish disobedience of an unjust system of rule; the altruistic disobedience of an unjust law; the altruistic disobedience of an unjust system of rule. After first defining civil disobedience and classifying it into four forms based on motive and extent of dissent, this chapter presents Aquinas's account of justified civil disobedience. It discusses the duty of obedience to just and unjust laws.