Civil Disobedience: Authority of Reflection Vs Civil Authority

Is civil disobedience morally justified? Throughout this paper I try to offer an affirmative answer to this question. In order to explain why civil disobedience is morally justified, I first describe some of the essential features of civil disobedience. Then I explain that the tension between civil and individual powers -which is often considered as the trigger of civil disobedience- is only in appearance. Some passages of Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals are essential for this task. Once the tension is proved to be unimportant, there is room for stating that the social and individual sources of normativity have to complement each other if civil disobedience is to be justified. As paradoxical as it may sound: Civil disobedience can only be morally justified if obedience and law are reinforced.