ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how Gandhi’s insistence on ethical commitment in citizen politics and his practice of civil disobedience against unjust laws could be compared with Henry David Thoreau’s idea of “Higher Laws”. It is worth remembering that many of the roots of Thoreau’s thinking, such as environmentalism, transcendentalism and his democratic individualism, go back to many debates among philosophers before his time. Also, it notes how Thoreau encountered Hinduism and Buddhism through Ralph Waldo Emerson, having access to Emerson’s library, which contained the great works of Indian philosophy such as The Vedas, The Laws of Manu, the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. Thus, a reinterpretation of Thoreau’s civic philosophy of dissent would precisely allow a celebration of disobedience in the name of higher principles. It is only by following this tradition of thought that Gandhi could expand the vibrant and relevant tradition of dissent and disobedience in twentieth century.
