What does Thoreau mean when he says that those who serve the state with their consciences resist it? To serve the state with one’s conscience means
to be willing to criticize or resist the state when it does wrong.
What does serve the state mean?
The legal way to give formal notice is to have the other side “served” with a copy of the paperwork that you have filed with the court. “Service of court papers” means that the other side must get copies of any paper you file with the court. … The person who does this is called the “server” or “
process server
.”
What does Thoreau mean by the mass of men serve the state thus not as men mainly but as machines with their bodies?
“The mass of men serve the State, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.” By saying “the mass of men,” Henry David Thoreau implies that
most citizens serve the government in one way or another
. The word serve suggests a lack of freedom, and the word machines suggests a lack of control and consciousness.
How does an individual serve the state according to Thoreau?
Focus: Thoreau describes three ways citizens can serve the state:
with their bodies, with their heads, and with their conscience
.
How does the mass of men serve the state meaning the country )?
The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly,
but as machines, with their bodies
. … A very few—as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men—serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.
What is the best way to serve the state?
To serve the state is
to “go with the flow” and not disrupt anything
. Thoreau also criticizes those who only oppose certain practices of the government in thought (i.e. continuing to sanction slavery), but do nothing that actually contributes to change.
What happens if a process server can’t serve you?
What Happens if the Documents Cannot Be Served? If a process server is unsuccessful in serving the person,
the attorney may file a motion with the court asking to serve the person in another manner
. The court may grant a motion to serve by public notice.
What type of government does Thoreau want?
Hover for more information. Thoreau believes that the best kind of government is
one that governs not at all
. Governments, like all human institutions, are, of their very nature, corrupt.
How do the mass of men serve the state with their bodies with their minds what is Thoreau’s opinion of this service?
5 Ethics Thoreau explains that men who serve the state with their bodies or minds, but not their consciences, serve
the state “as machines” who “rarely make any moral distinctions
.” Those who do not serve the state with their conscience do not make their own ethical decisions, but rather, allow the state to dictate …
What does Thoreau say is the first step in obtaining a better government?
What specific act of government does Thoreau speak against in the first paragraph? … Thoreau states the first step in obtaining a better government is
to ask experts what they think is best
.
What does Thoreau think is more respected than the law?
According to Thoreau, what should be respected more than the law? “
Must the citizen ever for a moment… resign his conscience to the legislator
?” “The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right.”
What does it mean to be a good citizen according to Thoreau?
According to Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience,” a good citizen is
one who serves the state with his conscience, doing what he believes to be right for the public good
. Soldiers serve the state with their bodies, and legislators serve the state with their minds, but these people usually do only part of their duty.
What does Thoreau consider the most effective way of expressing his displeasure with the government?
Thoreau considers
civil disobedience
one of the most effective ways of expressing his displeasure with the government. Civil disobedience, as the name suggests, is the active disregard and breaking of a government rule when a private citizen believes it is unnecessary or even against society’s best interests.
What is the true place for a just man?
Thoreau declared that if the government required people to participate in injustice by obeying “unjust laws,” then people should “break the laws” even if they ended up in prison. “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,” he asserted, “the true place for a
just man is also a prison
.”
What does Thoreau say is the best type of government?
Thoreau believes that the best kind of government is
one that governs not at all
. Governments, like all human institutions, are, of their very nature, corrupt.
What does I ask for not at once no government but at once a better government?
In 1849, Henry David Thoreau famously argued for the power of citizens to demand better government and policies in his essay “
Civil Disobedience
” (originally titled “Resistance to Civil Government”). … I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.
