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Date: 12 December, 2016.
John Locke versus Marti Luther King JR.
John Locke and Martin Luther king Jr. were both great philosophers. In the paper, I will be comparing Martin Luther king Jr. with John Locke. I will be supporting John Locke in this document. I will first look at his philosophies and defend him. Secondly, I will look at the Martin Luther King Jr. and his philosophies. In their lives, both philosophers had great influences on the lives of the citizens of different countries in the world. Their philosophies were political. This document has no any intention of proceeding with the similarities. The few similarities I have stated above were just meant for introductory purposes. The main purpose of writing this document is to determine who was a greater philosopher and as for me, it was John Locke. In The following Paragraphs, I will vividly give evidence as to why John Locke was greater than Martin King Luther Jr. and why chose him.
John Locke wrote 11 chapters in his first treatise to the government. He talked about the rights of kings. His second treatise contains 19 chapters and it is usually referred to as ‘the second essay”. From book 2 chapter 2 of the state of the nature, John Locke says “To understand political power aright, and derive it from its original, we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man.
A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another, there being nothing more evident than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of Nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another, without subordination or subjection, unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty”.
In this quote John Locke was talking about freedom. He says that a man that all the people are equal. He advocates for equality amongst the people. No one should feel superior to the other. This philosophy is very important. It is from it that the countries learnt to give equal rights to all it citizens irrespective of the class, gender or color. John Locke advocates for people’s rights in his philosophies. He says that every person has rights to liberty. To make sure that people do not abuse his philosophies, he continues to say that no one should use his liberty to on accounts of other people’s liberty. He tell the people that nature has its own laws. John Locke did not only come up with philosophies but made sure that his philosophies will benefit everyone. The quote says “And that all men may be restrained from invading others’ rights, and from doing hurt to one another, and the law of Nature be observed, which willeth the peace and preservation of all mankind, the execution of the law of Nature is in that state put into every man’s hands, whereby everyone has a right to punish the transgressors of that law to such a degree as may hinder its violation. For the law of Nature would, as all other laws that concern men in this world, be in vain if there were nobody that in the state of Nature had a power to execute that law, and thereby preserve the innocent and restrain offenders; and if anyone in the state of Nature may punish another for any evil he has done, every one may do so. For in that state of perfect equality, where naturally there is no superiority or jurisdiction of one over another, what any may do in prosecution of that law, everyone must needs have a right to do”
Through his work that lead to a revolution, people finally had their liberty and rights of properties. In book 2 chapter 7 of political or civil society, John Locke advocates on the people’s rights to life, property and liberty. Having liberty is the first step towards freedom. He says, “ Man being born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect freedom and an uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of Nature, equally with any other man, or number of men in the world, hath by nature a power not only to preserve his property – that is, his life, liberty, and estate, against the injuries and attempts of other men, but to judge of and punish the breaches of that law in others, as he is persuaded the offence deserves, even with death itself, in crimes where the heinousness of the fact, in his opinion, requires it. But because no political society can be, nor subsist, without having in itself the power to preserve the property, and in order thereunto punish the offences of all those of that society, there, and there only, is political society where every one of the members hath quitted this natural power, resigned it up into the hands of the community in all cases that exclude him not from appealing for protection to the law established by it. And thus all private judgment of every particular member being excluded, the community comes to be umpire, and by understanding indifferent rules and men authorised by the community for their execution, decides all the differences that may happen between any members of that society concerning any matter of right, and punishes those offences which any member hath committed against the society with such penalties as the law has established whereby it is easy to discern who are, and are not, in political society together .Those who are united into one body, and have a common established law and judicature to appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between them and punish offenders, are in civil society one with another; but those who have no such common appeal, I mean on earth, are still in the state of Nature, each being where there is no other, judge for himself and executioner; which is, as I have before showed it, the perfect state of Nature.”
John Locke saved citizens from constant abuse from the government.
Martin Luther king Jr. Philosophy advocates of nonviolence. In his letter, Martin Luther king advocates for equal rights to all the citizens. The black people from Birmingham were being oppressed by the local government. Martin Luther king comes in to advocate for their rights. Then engages in a nonviolent campaign of forcing the removal of the racist posts. He says, “in any nonviolent campaign there four basic steps of facts to determine whether injustices exists; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all this steps in Birmingham.” From this quote, we see Martin Luther king trying to use his nonviolent strategies to help the black people. However, the three first steps fail and he is forced to go to the 4th step, direct action. It is vivid that the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. does not always work. Luther continues to say the purpose of the direct action is to create a nonviolent crisis that would force the government to consider their grievances. In my opinion, Martin Luther King Jr. philosophy is inferior as it may lead citizens into trouble. Until the John Locke’s philosophy is embraced, the regime will mercilessly, violate the rights of the people who are engaging in the nonviolent demonstration.
Conclusion
From the comparison above, it is clear that John Locke’s Philosophy was more powerful and that it had a very great implication on today’s life. He advocated for what is regarded as freedom today. Clearly, what people need a lot is the right to liberty and John Locke advocated for that right. Martin Luther King Jr. formed his Philosophy after enjoying the fruits of John Locke’s philosophies. John Locke was vividly a great philosopher.
