Martin Luther King Moral Theory

On April 12, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. composed one of his most famous letters in a Birmingham jail addressing eight prominent Alabama clergymen. This letter known as The Letter from Birmingham Jail has become one of the most important works in the fields of theology and ethics since its composition. In the following essay, I will attempt to provide a brief illustration of the intellectual landscape that King developed over his short life as well as touch major influential experiences that contributed to King’s ethical and theological developments as seen within this prolific letter. This endeavor is not only to satisfy my own curiosity, but more importantly begin to peer more deeply into this legendary prophet in the hopes that I may be able to apply his own theological understandings the context in which we live.

2 values that Martin Luther king Jr felt that worth giving his life for were freedom and faith. Martin Luther king, Jr was arrested and sent to jail in Birmingham because he protested treatment of blacks against political demonstrations. He then published a letter in a newspaper declaring demonstrations for justice with his faith. He wrote that everyone has a right to break unjust laws and encouraged people to confront issues and put into practice rather than watching it from far away. He explained every details the reason of what he is doing and why he does this movement. He also focused on “nonviolent direct action” not “direct action”. He did not want people to fight each other violently based on Matthew 5:38-39 “you have heard that it

Martin Luther king through his letter “letter from Birmingham jail” he revealed his ethical thought by enunciating real facts furthermore he did not only consider his own viewpoints rather he considered viewpoints of many other people in relation to churches hypocrisy and unjust laws versus just laws. Despite the fact that martin Luther king was in jail, Luther uses ethical thought to critique the ministers by articulating his beliefs and ideas via displaying descriptive and meaningful illustrations of ethics of law and sensible thinking. In his letter king exceptionally introduces his point of view via observation of multiple people by using coherent thinking and more to that having a mentality that is fair minded.

It is impossible to separate the sage 's life from his or her Philosophical beliefs, it is also impossible to separate the public philosophical advocate from their place in history. Martin Luther brought important philosophical and moral concerns into the public arena. King belongs to a special of classes of activist philosophical whose philosophical and lives are inseparable because his chief concerns were social progress and improvement, Dr. King 's powerful speaking skills combined with his courageous actions on behalf of racial justice, makes him a compelling exemplar of philosophical advocacy in action. Dr. King is widely regarded as America 's pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world

Few Americans have had as tremendous an influence on the social and political culture of the country as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King's "most formative writings and sermons" dated from when he was just a teenager in seminary school (Kuruvila, 2007). King's character was formed within the forge of the Christian faith. It was from a firm bedrock in Christianity that King's concepts of morality and spiritual justice sprouted. However, King's political and social activism also bore roots in the rich soil of philosophy. As Blakely (2001) points out, "As Martin moved on to the seminary, he began to pass countless hours studying social philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Hobbes, Bentham, Mill, and Locke." Next, Thoreau, Hegel and Marx grabbed King's attention, as did Reinhold Niebuhr and of course Mohandas K. Gandhi (Blakely, 2001). It was Gandhi who perhaps had the strongest influence on King's methodologies of civil disobedience. Therefore, King's theories and methods did not evolve in a vacuum of American backwardness. King was fighting against the current of racism that gripped the American South, but he did so in an educated and thoughtful manner. Moreover, King drew from the strength of the burgeoning black empowerment and black nationalism movements of leaders as diverse as Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois. Martin Luther King, Jr. would synthesize this complex and powerful array of formidable philosophical influences. King is a Christian herald because he

He believed that men and women everywhere, regardless of colour or faith, are equal members of society. Through this belief, he used religion and philosophy to bring attention to the necessity of ending discrimination in not only a peaceful manner, but also without denying, abusing, or violating the civil rights of (anyone/the American people?). The main principles of King’s philosophy of non-violence had been tested frequently and intensely, yet he remained adamant on their application. In his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ Dr. King described the need for civil disobedience as inevitable, saying that eventually the “pent-up resentments and latent frustrations” (Birmingham Letter) of African Americans would come to the surface; however, instead of these (emotions?) resulting in outbursts of violence and (animosity), King urged for them to be expressed in the way of marches and sit-ins, to demonstrate with as much peacefulness as there was passion. Using these methods produced a type of tension which he explained as “…a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth” (Birmingham

The reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man of virtues in many aspects, particularly in time that was filled with unnecessary tension and violence. He was one of the most, if not the most prominent, civil rights activist in the nineteen sixties, as well as a devoted man of religion. Often King when addressing the civil issues we once faced, he would make a point to include his religion to assert his point. King felt it was important to include his region into the subjects he cared strongly about. As well as being a reverend and civil rights leader, he was man of intelligence and education. Unlike some of his counter parts that used fear mongering to control the social setting as well as the status quo of the South, King used his logic, education, and critical thinking skills to help form a new Southern United States. He makes a prime example of this in his “Letter form a Birmingham Jail” using classic rhetoric in his letter.

Martin Luther King Jr. had one major belief. He wanted everyone to be able to live in a world where skin color didn’t matter. Of equal importance, he believed we should be able to treat each other like brothers and sisters because we were all human under God’s eyes. He used nonviolence and peaceful protests to express his beliefs, which were inspired by Gandhi. For example, King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham,

Martin Luther King Jr.’s central philosophy was to promote change through peaceful protests. This follows the ideas of the transcendental movement because it centered around doing good for others. However, King’s views differed a bit from conventional transcendentalist thoughts because King brought religion into his methods. Typically, transcendentalists separated their beliefs from religion, while Martin Luther King Jr. based his teachings on his Christian views.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s philosophy showed not only Americans but humans in general the necessity to fight for equality and real freedom without hurting those who oppose our points of view. Dr. King’s “Six Principles of Nonviolence” have become a bible for those fighting for the most just causes in the planet and years after his dead his knowledge and ideals still inspiring people from different races, religions and cultures.

As Christian’s we often forget or fail to acknowledge that mental illness can happen to us. Naturally, we are all humans too and what I have learned thus far is that some mental illnesses do not discriminate. Whether some illnesses are genetically driven or environmentally driven, illness can have a major impact on how the individual functions. Mental illnesses have affected many Christian leaders in the past and present. It has been said that some illnesses such as depression may have fueled some Christian leaders. Specifically, Martin Luther King Jr. was said to have depression, which helped him empathize with people. In this paper I will explore background information on Martin Luther King Jr, and ethical concerns that could come up in treatment. In addition, I will present a DSM-V diagnosis; provide a theoretical orientation, and a treatment plan that will work with Mr. King if he was my client.

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that seeks to define right and wrong actions based solely on the consequences they produce. By utilitarian standards, an act is determined to be right if and

Dr. King had the courage to face the risk and pursed non-violent call to arms. He led a social movement of equality during a time when he wasn’t supported by most. He was threatened and despised by many but he did not show reluctance or even shaken. In fact, he encouraged others by telling them cold facts

The theory of Utilitarianism states that actions should be judged as right or wrong depending on whether they cause more happiness or unhappiness. It weighs the rightness and wrongness of an action based on consequences of that action.

King commented on nonviolence by saying, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral.” This quote shows how Martin Luther King was against nonviolence as he says it is immoral.This philosophy gives advice on how to live nonviolently, similar to how Thoreau would give his readers advice on how to become one with nature. Martin Luther King’s final idea was practicing nonviolent protest in order to achieve a goal or reform. King, with many other people, in the 1950s and 1960s practiced nonviolent protest in order to achieve his goal of ending segregations, and believes equal rights for blacks across the United States. Martin Luther King’s practice of nonviolence is directly borrowed from Thoreau 's work of Civil Disobedience and Nonviolent Resistance, King even commented on the use of nonviolence by saying, “The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement.” In conclusion, Martin Luther King can be considered a transcendental thinker due to the philosophies he created, the Triple Evil philosophy and Six Principles of Nonviolence philosophy, as well as his practice of nonviolence.