This paper seeks to compare and contrast Plato’s Crito and Martin Luther King Jr. letter from Birmingham Jail. Both Socrates and King make a case from similar perspective, though separated through a vast amount of years, both are unjustly arrested and charged with seemingly ridiculous sentences; awaiting trial in prison, and they are presented with a choice to flee incarceration or to stay and accept their fate. Their argument, in my option is over whether it is moral or not to disobey the law, despite the fact that it is unjust.
In “The Crito” Plato documents a conversation between Crito and Socrates. Socrates is imprisoned for impiety and corrupting the youth by causing them to doubt or disregard the wisdom of their elders. Socrates friend
…show more content…
Preserving the value of laws was critical to Socrates, for he believed that if he broke this one law it would cause harm to the rest of the laws. His actions would then result in the downfall of the judicial system and government. One analogy that really allows clarity for this is that Laws are like money; the value of which is not their actual worth, but the worth given to them by the people. We believe that money is valuable even though its physical worth is essentially nonexistent. Laws only have meaning because the people within society give them meaning. It is these people who give them meaning by obeying them and seeing the value in …show more content…
He says that society must, protect the robbed and punish the robber. He also brings up the example that what Adolf Hitler did in Germany was legal at the time. Just because it was legal, did not make it right. He continues in his essay explaining how disturbed he is over how the church is dealing with the issue. Martin Luther King Jr., makes an even stronger case as to what a person should and should not tolerate from their nation. King was in the midst of extreme injustice placed upon black citizens of America, coming not only from white citizens but from the government itself. When his letter was written, it was impossible for King to respond to the laws of the nation in a just and responsible manner, as the very nation he lived in was poisoned with corruption, racism, and violence towards
When given the opportunity, should people choose to escape imprisonment or should they welcome death? In the cases of Socrates and Assata Shakur, they were both found guilty of crimes and the law ordered them to die. Socrates felt obligated to obey the law and die but I agree with Assata Shakur’s decision to escape. In the Crito, Socrates is awaiting execution in prison for impiety and corrupting the youth.
Despite the centuries distinguishing the compositions of Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, their similarities are undeniably evident when viewed in tandem. The former depicts a Greek tragedy of Antigone, a young woman who defies an edict obstructing the burial of her brother, who perished fighting in a civil war for the city of Thebes. The latter is a historic document written by the great civil rights leader during the period in which he was imprisoned in an Alabama jail for his nonviolent demonstrations against segregation. Albeit the works communicate distinct messages, it is not to be said that they do not parallel one another. The similitude of the Greek tragedy Antigone and the historic
In hope of obtaining the Good Life, people often have to deal with balancing the ideas of doing what is best for society and doing what is best for the individual. Both Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” support the concept that to obtain the Good Life, a person must act for the benefit of society more than for the benefit of himself or herself. In “Antigone”, through Antigone and Kreon’s actions and the repercussions of their actions, Sophocles argues for the preservation of values of society over self-preservation and putting the beliefs of society over the beliefs of the individual. In the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King argues against the individual’s tendency for passivity and idleness
While Socrates and King were in jail for the same action, which was expressing their beliefs, they came to opposite conclusions about civil disobedience and the relationship between an individual and their society. The Athenian government charged Socrates with impiety and corrupting the youth. He was sentenced
Slavery had been abolished by the time Martin Luther King Jr. had grown up, but the aftermath was still being sorted out, with him leading the charge to fix the wrongs committed against African Americans. After a peaceful protest, he was sent to Birmingham Jail, where he would write a letter. He could’ve paused to answer criticisms but he didn’t, only wrote the letter to appeal to the masses whose rights were limited and lives were under constant bereavement. This letter would apply to these masses, and in turn, call upon their humanity, morals, and ethics. MLK went on to state the reasons he was in Birmingham at all.
Throughout his letters, sermons, and other writings, Martin Luther King, Jr. expresses the idea that one has a moral obligation to disobey an unjust law – most notably in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” King also conveys the idea that change must be demanded, and not waited for by the oppressed. Additionally, Michael Sandel describes Aristotle’s idea that justice is teleological and honorific in Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? This means that determining whether something is just requires delving into the telos, or true meaning or purpose of that thing.
Many aspects go into making a society successful. Martin Luther King, Jr. explores one of these aspects in his Letter Written from Birmingham Jail. In his letter, King argues that individuals should not have to fight for their freedoms alone. In King’s time, black Americans were fighting for their rights and civil liberties, those of which had already been afforded to white men. The problems that King’ presents in his letters is an important topic to all reasonable members of society because it is imperative that all members of society have the same rights and freedoms to ensure that everyone has the ability to perform their best in order to propel his or her community forward.
The Crito is Plato’s account of the conversation that took place between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito in a prison cell while he awaited execution. Crito is amazed by how serene and peaceful his friend Socrates is sleeping (Plato, Tredennick, & Tarrant, 2003, p79). At the same time, Crito is sleepless and depressed, and it would be not hard to think that Socrates should be the person in that state. Crito is desperately attempting to convince Socrates that his execution would mean not only losing an irreplaceable friend, but that he would be forever blamed for not saving him due to the fact that nobody would believe him that it would be Socrates would refuse such an offer. Crito’s worries that negative public opinion would not only tarnish him, but all of Socrates followers as well.
In Crito by Plato, Socrates argues that he should remain in prison because escaping would go against living a just and honorable life. If Socrates escapes prison, he will harm the city; this means that Socrates will not be just and honorable. However, Socrates’ argument includes that breaking the law is not just and honorable. I will argue that Socrates should have escaped prison since his argument to remain in prison failed to consider that some laws should be broken because they are unfair.
In “A Letter From A Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. He uses ethos to build up credibility.
When selecting a leader for any hierarchical position, the commonwealth put their confidence in someone who will put their society’s best interest first. Sometimes these leaders take their power too far and begin enacting regulations that oppress certain individuals. The oppressed occasionally find ways to retaliate against this injustice. In regards to this concept of civil disobedience, transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau once said, “Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them…or shall we transgress them at once?” Few people have elected to transgress these laws throughout the course of history.
With these and several other points, Socrates successfully argues that he must remain in prison and face his
1.) Martin Luther King Jr. writes an open letter, which he calls “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to respond to the accusations made about him from clergymen. The letter initiates by King explaining the reasons for his presence in Birmingham and clarifying that he was invited to the city. Next, King defines the steps of a non-violent direct action and provides the reasoning for this approach.
Political activists and philosophers alike have a challenging task of determining the conditions under which citizens are morally entitled to go against the law. Socrates and Martin Luther King, Jr. had different opinions on the obligation of the citizens in a society to obey the law. Although they were willing to accept the legal punishment, King believed that there are clear and definable circumstances where it would be appropriate, and sometimes mandatory, to purposely disobey unjust laws. Socrates did not. Socrates obeyed what he considered to be an unjust verdict because he believed that it was his obligation, as a citizen of Athens, to persuade or obey its Laws, no matter how dire the consequences.
Socrates believes that justice benefits the just, but also benefits the city (other people) too. He is faced with a seemingly simple choice, escape Athens or remain in prison and be sentenced to death. Socrates’ central argument against escaping his circumstances is twofold. First, Socrates argues that “one must never do wrong.” (49b)