Comparison Between Friedrich Nietzsche And Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were very huge leading figures during the Civil Rights movement. Though they had many differences, they had some similarities. Both men’s fathers were preachers and both men were religious preachers themselves. Dr. King and Malcolm X were around the same age and they were both assassinated. Coincidentally, both men had the same number of children and eventually they had the same ideologies for the Civil Rights Movement. However, Dr. King and Malcolm X were different in ways such as Malcolm X wanted black supremacy and Dr. King wanted equality, Malcolm X saw violence as an option to achieve his goals if peace did not work and Dr. King believed in complete nonviolence, and Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor who rose to fame during the year 1955 when he lead a yearlong bus boycott where Negroes would not ride the buses. After that Dr. King became well known for leading nonviolent protests and speaking for the Negro community. Dr. King wrote Letters from Birmingham Jail while imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama for parading without a permit. He was there protesting the unfair treatment of Negroes in the city. In the end he did not stop protesting until the injustice was stopped. Henry David Thoreau was a writer who eventually became famous for writing about politics and the essay Civil Disobedience. Thoreau was not afraid to have his opinions known and took to his writing express them. Although the writers are two completely different people the letters share many similarities between them. The two most prominent similarities are, the fact that both Dr. King and Thoreau advocated injustice and that they both spoke of people who were too afraid to speak out against many wrong doings. Like any two separated essays there are going to be differences. The major difference is that the essays are written in two time periods with two unalike point of views. In all these letters are two well written pieces of work.

“... But if it is of such nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say break the law.” This philosophy, practiced by very few men, was the foundation of Henry David Thoreau’s and Martin Luther King’s morals and beliefs. Thoreau was an American transcendentalist in the 1800’s who had very strong views about the United States government at the time. He was against slavery and the Mexican-American War so he refused to not his poll taxes, which consequently landed him in jail for a night. Soon later, he wrote an essay, called “Civil Disobedience,” in which he spoke out on his feeling about government. King was an African American and was one of the most important leaders, not if the most important leader, of the Civil Rights Movement. King was also imprisoned but for nonviolently protesting against segregation. He later wrote “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Both works, even though written around 100 years apart, have a few similarities. One is they agreed there was a necessity to reform government, specifically majority rule. However, they have differences such as writing styles and the two essays had two different topics and audiences.

Nietzsche critiqued modern civilization since the entire scheme of modern society went against his philosophy. Nietzsche was afraid modern society and religion would bring the individuals to nihilistic voids, as they would eventually turn into uninteresting herds of controlled animals. Nietzsche wishes the individuals to achieve self-awareness, in that individuals would act upon themselves for what they truly want, instead of following the social construct. This state of achieving the higher self was defined as being the “overman”, which was achieved by redefining one 's world, in a purely personal manner. Thus in some sense, Nietzsche would agree that great men are “criminals” since they act in a way that is not deemed “good” in society and stay true to what they desire. As Nietzsche states, “A rebel can be a miserable and contemptible man; but there is nothing contemptible in a revolt as such--and to be a rebel in view of contemporary society does not in itself lower the value of a man. There are even cases in which one might have to honor a rebel, because he finds something in our society against which war ought to be waged--he awakens us from our slumber” (The Will to Power, pg 391). However, the state often suppresses these “criminals” from acting as the overman by demanding rules, which create fear and guilt and prevent individuals from heightening oneself and also prevent

Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher in the 1800’s. His work has since influenced, impacted, and brought forth new questions for many philosophers to follow. One of Nietzsche’s famous writings Beyond Good and Evil expresses his views on society and the two different classes it holds, slave and master. He expresses his belief that the two are in warfare with one another, the strong (master) fighting for the will to power, while the weak (slave) tries to pull the master down to their level using clandestine forms of revenge. Nietzsche believed the slave morality was one that included humility, obedience, and submission, and was the destructive choice and attribute of Christianity, while the master morality was full of arrogance and pride

Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are both considered to be the top existentialists for solely different reasons, as well as being very different from each other. They have different philosophies when it comes to their thoughts on religion and it is important to see exactly how they line up in this regard. The best way to do this is to start from the beginning of each’s work, their history and how they grew into their respective roles in their fields. It is also important to note exactly what existentialism is. It is the theory of exercising the idea that the individual has the freedom and free will to develop their own path and existence in a responsible manner. It is a very interesting subject that is debated on the concepts of thinking in absolutes. The need to compare and contrast these two is a volatile understanding of this particular philosophical theory. It is also important to review their thoughts and critique them in the sense of saying what makes sense, and what does not make sense.

In Martin Luther King’s essay “Letter to Birmingham Jail”, he discusses racial injustice and peaceful protest. He talks on how brutal negroes were treated in jail and by policemen. King was jailed for parading around without a permit. In Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau spoke on the unjust government, nonviolent revolt, and against slavery. Thoreau went to jail for not paying his poll taxes because he refuses to align himself with the state. These essays show some similarities and differences that I want to bring to light. Two similarities that I found are that they both advocated for civil disobedience and they were willing to break the law if necessary. A difference that I discovered, was that in the two essays Thoreau and King focus on different issues for some matters.

Frederich Nietzsche and Kurt Vonnegut have a lot of the same amoralistic ideas. Understanding one of theirs writing could be the key to understanding the other. Reading some of Nietzsche’s philosophy made it a lot easier to comprehend some of Vonnegut’s ideas and the story of Cat’s Cradle. Vonnegut definitely uses Nietzsche’s ideas and makes them his own.

While both Martin Luther King Jr. and David Thoreau recognized that society needed modification, they acquired contrasting perspectives about the dilemma. King writes out of concern for the African-American race and believes that even though law states, something is wrong, it could be right. Thoreau believes writes out of frustration and that "Government is best which governs not at all." (Thoreau 407). King and Thoreau agree that everyone has the ability to take charge, on the other hand, their actions are distinct in many ways.

One of the two most prominent figures in literature, Henry David Thoreau and Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., have very similar but yet vastly different writing styles. Their writing styles can be shown through their most well known pieces of writing, “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King. A way to compare and contrast their styles is through their use of rhetorical devices in order to persuade their readers into viewing a particular opinion and central argument, in this case they both use pathos, the appeal through conveying emotion, in seperate ways in order to persuade readers into the similar idea of promoting civil disobedience.

Elegant, wise, and prolific. These are some of the few words to describe the wonderful speaking styles of Martin Luther King Jr and Atticus Finch. In Atticus’s closing argument in Tom Robinson’s case from Harper Lee’s notorious novel, To Kill a MockingBird, and Doctor Martin Luther King’s well known “I Have Dream” speech, both speakers inflict emotions, use facts, and use numerous rhetorical devices to convey their powerful arguments to the their audiences.

Friedrich Nietzsche, a prominent German philosopher in the 19th century is one of the most well-read philosophers of the past two-centuries. His ideas regarding morality and nature continue to be discussed and debated to this day among scholars of all beliefs.

Nietzsche was a revolutionary author and philosopher who has had a tremendous impact on German culture up through the twentieth century and even today. Nietzsche's views were very unlike the popular and conventional beliefs and practices of his time and nearly all of his published works were, and still are, rather controversial, especially in On the Genealogy of Morals. His philosophies are more than just controversial and unconventional viewpoints, however; they are absolutely extreme and dangerous if taken out of context or misinterpreted. After Nietzsche's death it took very little for his sister to make some slight alterations to his works to go along with Nazi ideology.

Protecting the rights and dignity of the poor and oppressed is the most important moral duty of the church.’ Critically evaluate this statement with reference to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King.

Thesis: Actions, beliefs, and patience are characteristics that are comparable in both the lives of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.