Socratic Methods Of Civil Disobedience By Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Every single day there are individuals who stand up against the jarring face of injustice, to uphold a greater purpose. Socrates is an individual known for going against the norms of his society, and uses his philosophical work to delve into the many facets of inequity. Uninhibited by societal norms, Socrates builds on his research by unraveling the intricacies of breaking laws. His study of injustice and law, feeds into his philosophical project of discovering the true meaning of virtue. When facing death, Socrates grapples with the moral implications of disobeying law even though there is injustice present. Martin Luther King, Jr. also faces all the complex challenges Socrates deals with, but within an environment of outright segregation. …show more content…

Despite the differences in situations, King acknowledges that Socrates is a proponent of civil disobedience because of his unwavering commitment to truth and virtue. I believe while Socrates did go against the injustice within his society, he did not go as far as King. Ultimately, I utilize King’s form of civil disobedience as the exemplary form and when compared to the Socratic methods of Socrates, it proves that his actions did not reach the extent of King’s. However, Socrates’ differences in the methods, used to fight injustice, do not stem from a lack of devotion to the truth. In his time, Socrates was in no way subservient to the citizens of Athens, but was regarded with great honor. The injustice he was fighting was ignorance within his people, whereas King had to fight against oppression. In Birmingham, King’s oppressors lacked respect and so he needed to use clear and direct actions to achieve equality for his people. The variance between King and Socrates’ environments ultimately demonstrate Socrates going against his society, but when compared to King his actions, are not civil disobedient. (Ignorance vs. …show more content…

refuses to remain silent despite being jailed. In Birmingham, he utilizes civil disobedience as a technique to bring the city to a place of negotiation. King feels that this is the most effect tool, because “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension” that white clergymen in Birmingham are unable to avoid the situation (King 37). This effect, is the way King defines civil disobedience as a series of non-violence actions to call attention to an important movement or necessity for change. By use of civil disobedience, King hopes that it will “open the door to negotiation” and to cause Birmingham “to live in monologue rather than dialogue” (King 37). Since King sees nonviolent resistance as a method to open discussion about the truth, it is clear why he feels that Socrates is a proponent of civil disobedience. In fact, there are parallels between the way civil disobedience creates tension in an environment and how Socrates created “tension in the mind so that individuals could” break away from ignorance (King 37). Additionally, King notes that Socrates had an “unswerving commitment to the truth” which is a result of his mission as a philosopher and shows how King deeply respects the ideas of

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