The Greatest Philosopher in Our Time

[Bill Wiltrack]

The late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

He talked the talk and walked the walk.

Dr. King mentally, physically, and emotionally, made the connection linking the inseparable aspect between labor rights and civil rights.


All of us are still working to realize within our lives his great dream and vision.

Please enjoy this clip I found.

Perhaps you will agree with me, after all these years the quotes of his are even more amazing.





In his own words: Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (Jan. 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January. It celebrates the life and achievements of King, an influential American civil rights leader.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi.

Between 1957 and 1968, King led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience and inspiring his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, “I Have a Dream;” he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of 20 times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of 35, Martin Luther King Jr. was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, King was assassinated.

Source: nobelprize.org

In the 11-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled more than six million miles and spoke more than 2,500 hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. Here are just some of the topics he addressed in his sermons, speeches and interviews:

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

A lie cannot live.

A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.

A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.



A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

A right delayed is a right denied.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.



Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.



Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.



I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Science investigates, religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power, religion gives man wisdom which is control.

Seeing is not always believing.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.

The time is always right to do what is right.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

When you are right, you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

[spike]

I never though of Martin Luther King as a philosopher but I guess he is. His philosophy was to set his people free and improve human rights. To paraphrase Bertrand Russell, circumstances determined his philosophy and in turn his philosophy determined circumstances. He is what is know as an operational philosopher, one who put his philosophy into practice and walked the talk, as you said Bill.

However, could he have been such a forceful philosopher in an earlier time? Would people have listened to his message 20 years earlier, before WWII? I don't think so. He was definitely a philosopher for his time, whose message was precisely for the times. His philosophy alined itself perfectly with the sociopolitical events of the day.

What made his philosophy especially poignant and powerful was that the world was ready for it. Prior to King the world was engrossed in other issues, like recovering from wars. Also, the technology to get his especially important message out did not exist. It was television that created the mass audience that made the difference. Without television I don't thing enough people would have understood what King was talking about, in order to make an impact. The people who counted and could make a difference saw on television, for the first time, the injustices perpetrated in the south of the US against fellow human beings. People were rallied and motivated by what they saw on TV to demand civil rights for all. King's words gave it all the more meaning.

The world at the time of King was really changing. Human rights had come to the foreground because of the Holocaust. People had become more aware of the ill treatment of people around the world. King was the one who took charge to change things for America and his people.

King also made America look bad at a very critical time. America was competing with communism for the hearts and minds of the world. America had to show to the world that it was truly the land of justice and opportunity for all, as it advertised. But King was embarrassing America In its propaganda war with communism. King's crusade forced America to reexamine itself and change, if it hoped to win that war.

[Bill Wiltrack]

Great reply.

Much more thoughtful and poignant than my original post.

Thank you for putting that together.

[spike]

Well, it was your original post that inspired me to write what I did.

[nameless]

Always interesting to hear who are folks' personal heroes, and why.
peace

[spike]

I wonder why this post was moved? It specifically deals with political philosophy. But what does this forum know? And who else made political philosophy - some of the greatest philosophers of our time.

King's philosophical legacy empowered millions of people politically. It encouraged legislation that gave the vote to millions of African-Americans. Because of it the Civil Rights act of 1964 was enacted, one of the greatest pieces of political legislation in history. And then there is one of King's greatest political legacies, which should give it a right to this index, the election of America's first black president.

I think this forum should explain the move. But I wont hold my breath.

[spike]

Now I see that this entry is still under Political Philosophy but under General Discussion it is listed as moved.

[Freud Scholar]

The late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher.

I am just wondering upon which authority that idea is sustained.

[spike]

The late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher.

I am just wondering upon which authority that idea is sustained.

Why, it is the authority of existential opinion.

[Grim]

Nietzsche was radical but I have often heard the Heidegger is one of the most influential.

[Bill Wiltrack]

In the realm of philosophy I’m not sure there is an overall voice of authority.

At times, the drug addicted is just as insightful as the doctorate.

If you are questioning my authority – that’s GREAT. I know myself well enough to know that I am not an authority on anything.

However, I do have an opinion, and as I re-read my original post I am even more impressed with the philosophical life of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He talked the talk and he walked the walk.

Dr. King gave his life for what he believed in. Through a strange set of circumstances he gave his life for his philosophical views. If you are looking for philosophical authority I would set my crosshairs right there.

The knowledge that if need be an individual would give their life for something they believe in changes an individual.

Inwardly, as I read again King’s quotes from the original thread they are jarring. They stop everything and philosophically, make you look at life differently from that moment on. I believe that is what true philosophy is meant to do.

Outwardly, if you are looking for authority or an authority figure, Dr. King was the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.

For me, one of the most important philosophical aspects of Dr. Martin Luther King is that he associated worker rights with civil rights. Rev. King died while on a trip in support of the garbage workers union in Memphis, Tennessee.

[Freud Scholar]

The late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher.

I am just wondering upon which authority that idea is sustained.

Why, it is the authority of existential opinion.

Oh ok. I'll rewrite it for you : "In my opinion the late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher."

[spike]

I am trying to think why King might be considered America's or the world's last great philosopher. It is a good question.

I am thinking it has to do with King being a political philosopher and politics being the last frontier of philosophy. King was a great political philosopher, dealing with it's most primal issue, how people ought to be treated, and people should treat each other.

[Wootah]

Oh ok. I'll rewrite it for you : "In my opinion the late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher."

So you deciphered that a person when they say something is making an opinion? Good job.

Heck I don't want to but I'll argue that facts are opinions if I have to.

[Freud Scholar]

Oh ok. I'll rewrite it for you : "In my opinion the late Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was America's last great philosopher, perhaps the world's last great philosopher."

So you deciphered that a person when they say something is making an opinion? Good job.

I deciphered that it was not stressed as an opinion but was a kind of hero worship of King in which the writer enthusiastically attributed absurd status on the religious, sociological and political commentator .