O sábio estoico na prisão ou da “Desobediência Civil” de Thoreau

The aim of this essay is to provide a critical reading of Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience. After an introduction, part 2 provides an interpretation of another essay by the same thinker, The Service, which then is used as a parameter for the interpretation, in part 3, of the famous essay. By comparing the two essays, my aim is to show the continuity of certain ethical, i.e. stoic, premises contained in them, the conclusion being that Thoreau’s notion of “civil disobedience” is loaded with stoic notions, which, in turn, explain its subjetivistic character.