Overview
Optional(this part is for a better understanding): Read and annotate Kantian Ethics, pages 56-64. This was the previous reading that was assigned and is somewhat connected to this assignment.
First, watch this: Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said - YouTube This video should familiarize you with a more complex picture of King than is presented in the popular media. Watch twice if needed.
Read and annotate King, pg 79-85; Beloved Community, pg 96-98.
- Read and annotate King, pg 85-89; Glossary of Non-violence, pg 99-101.
Read the note below and respond to the prompt.
- Reading Note
- King connects to Kant because each shares a commitment to universal moral principles. Like Kant, King's universalism rested in natural law and its belief in a higher law of justice that went beyond the laws of worldly nations. But this was not his only universalism. He also believed in the universal connectedness of humanity, he might call this brotherhood or simply 'beloved community'. Unlike Kant, this love did not have to be justified by reason and ignore emotion. Instead, universal love was worthy in and of itself as a moral ideal and a moral feeling. For King, you didn't have to prove universal love, it was a gift available to all of humanity, despite our failures and despite the hate. This was glorious and joyful. It is the case that King was very motivated by his Christianity, but it is also the case that much of his philosophy of nonviolence arose from Gandhian principles and he believed in unity regardless of religion. Love and justice were his two guiding universal principles.
- Writing Prompt: Pick a term from the Glossary of Non-violence, pg 99-101. Write out 2 quotes from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” that are connected to the term. Then write 1-2 paragraphs explaining the connection (for each quote) and why you were interested in this term.