Excellent disobedience: a virtue theoretical account of civility in civil disobedience

Lee, T. M. (2026) Excellent disobedience: a virtue theoretical account of civility in civil disobedience. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00130766

Abstract/Summary

This thesis examines the conceptual relationship between civility and civil disobedience. Standard accounts of civil disobedience, though debated, typically emphasize publicity, communication, non-violence, and respect for law. They also frequently invoke “civility”, but without comparable clarity or depth. This under-theorization obscures what, if anything, civility demands of civil disobedience and undermines our ability to assess the apparent distinction between civil and uncivil forms of dissent. I argue that existing treatments of civility in this context are unsatisfactory in two main ways. “Inside-out” treatments derive civility from prior conceptions of civil disobedience, rendering its demands parasitic rather than distinctly civil. “Outside-in” treatments treat civility independently, but often implicitly or without sufficient depth thus, leaving civility’s significance unclear. To address these problems, I develop an account of civility independently of civil disobedience, and only then apply it. Drawing on the civility literature, I defend an “ethical” rather than “political” understanding of civility and argue that it is best conceived as an excellent character trait, i.e., a virtue. I develop a virtue-theoretical account, Civility as a Virtue: civility is a disposition to respond positively to formalities in ways that assure and esteem in social interaction. I show that civility is indeed plausibly a virtue (as it is often called), it is not inherently supportive of the status quo, and it can accommodate the possibility of righteous incivility. I then apply this account to civil disobedience. Drawing on the paradigmatic cases of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King jr. I argue for a qualified agent approach: the civility of civil disobedience consists in agents acting as we would expect civil persons to characteristically act in the circumstances. On this basis, I develop a civility-focused, virtue-theoretic account of civil disobedience that remains recognizably civil disobedience while offering a more parsimonious and flexible explanation of its standard associations with non-violence, respect for law, and public communication. Thus, civility is a central and potentially unifying part of civil disobedience.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/130766
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00130766
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Politics and International Relations
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