Curtis White. "The spirit of disobedience: an invitation to resistance" Harper's Magazine (1 April 2006)
“
Justice, under capitalism, works not from a notion of obedience to moral law, or to conscience, or to compassion, but from the assumption of a duty to preserve a social order and the legal “rights” that constitute that order, especially the right to property. … It comes to this: that decision will seem most just which preserves the system of justice even if the system is itself routinely unjust.
— Curtis White on Right to property
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Justice, under capitalism, works not from a notion of obedience to moral law, or to conscience, or to compassion, but from the assumption of a duty to preserve a social order and the legal “rights” that constitute that order, especially the right to property. … It comes to this: that decision will seem most just which preserves the system of justice even if the system is itself routinely unjust." in the context of "Curtis White. "The spirit of disobedience: an invitation to resistance" Harper's Magazine (1 April 2006)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Right to property" (W)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Curtis White
Curtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture.
About Curtis White
Curtis White is an American essayist and author. He serves as professor of English at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, and as President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Book Culture.
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