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Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail and Plato's Apology

To compare Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail with Plato's Apology is to compare two statements of ethical theory that in a number of ways overlap and converge. Each text discusses the nature of justice and injustice and what it means to challenge injustice. The texts are partly alike, too, politically; each is presented by a recognized authority (in Socrates' case) or leader (in King's case) who is beset with political unpopularity. Socrates says very directly that he has "many enemies of the worst and most dangerous kind" (39), and the Letter is a response to the eight Alabama clergymen who publicly criticized as "unwise and untimely" his protests in Birmingham aimed at desegregating public accommodations as a matter of national policy and law (Where passim). And the texts are alike from an analytical standpoint, systematically dissecting and pretty much destroying arguments against them.

But there are differences as well. The Apology is Socrates' valedictory; Plato is reconstructing the last Socratic dialogue for all time, since the occasion for it is the execution that follows Socrates' conviction on charges of atheism and youth corruption. King's Letter is not a valedictory (that was to come in Memphis in 1968) but rather a call to conscience, much in the manner of a sermon, and a sermon all the more important because it is a response to colleagues in the clergy. The fact that both the Letter and the Apology arise in the context of hotly contested issues shows that Socrates and King were functioning in a climate of social and political controversy. The position of Socrates, whose status as a philosopher is well understood, is that of the perpetual critic whose role it is to raise questions about the wisdom of prevailing political policy. The fact that Socrates is in the position of having to "apologize" for his views shows that the philosopher is positioned as an antagonist against prevailing political authority. He is in t...

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Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail and Plato's Apology. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:07, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1683004.html