Daniel Hernandez

Session 2: The Science of Ethics The concept of civil disobedience took precedence in this session. Before the session, what I had learned in most of my classes during high school was to categorize political disobedience as a form of peaceful protest. I took lots of issue with this model of thinking after the January 6th insurrection on the capital. To say that the insurrection was a peaceful protest is far from the truth as it was very much fueled by a need to create violence. What I appreciated about defining civil disobedience in First Year Discussion Sessions was that I took with me the ability to categorize real-world events as civilly obedient or civilly disobedient -- the ability to differentiate civil from uncivil was something lacking in my knowledge. During the session, I also was surprised by the many parameters associated with being civilly obedient such as: 1. Protesting for an amendment to a social issue, but never for self-interest, 2. Not breaking the law or overstepping the idea for which you are advocating there be change in, 3. Accepting and upholding the outcome of your protest, even if it should mean you face legal repercussions. Ultimately, what I now realize is that being civilly disobedient has parameters for a reason, and they can most often be used to scale in protest against a small or large issue.