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Single Idea 20288

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / c. Revolution ]

Full Idea

It would be one-sided to say that violent revolution is always absolutely wrong, without taking account of the evils that the revolutionaries are trying to stop.

Gist of Idea

You can't condemn violent revolution without assessing the evils it prevents

Source

Peter Singer (Practical Ethics [1979], 09)

Book Ref

Singer,Peter: 'Practical Ethics' [CUP 1989], p.197

A Reaction

This seems like common sense, but there are plenty of right-wing authoritarians who would claim that stable authority has priority over all social wrongs. I think that view is mistaken. But the problem is, how to know the future?

The 18 ideas with the same theme [overthrow of the government by citizens]:

19931 Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies [Spinoza]
19902 Any obstruction to the operation of the legislature can be removed forcibly by the people [Locke]
19908 Rebelling against an illegitimate power is no sin [Locke]
19911 If legislators confiscate property, or enslave people, they are no longer owed obedience [Locke]
19747 Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains [Rousseau]
19837 If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult [Rousseau]
19843 The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders [Rousseau]
21756 All revolutions result from spirit changing its categories, to achieve a deeper understanding [Hegel]
22971 In moving from capitalism to communism a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is needed [Marx]
21991 The middle class gain freedom through property, but workers can only free all of humanity [Marx, by Singer]
21990 Theory is as much a part of a revolution as material force is [Marx]
20273 The French Revolution gave trusting Europe the false delusion of instant recovery [Nietzsche]
23867 After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore [Weil]
23856 Spontaneous movements are powerless against organised repression [Weil]
21997 In Marxism the state will be superseded [Singer]
20288 You can't condemn violent revolution without assessing the evils it prevents [Singer]
22258 Passion for progress is always short-lived [Sandel]
23125 Most good social changes are incremental, rather than revolutionary [Gopnik]