Socrates -- King Civil Disobedience: Term Paper

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.. power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal" ("Martin Luther King's Letter,' Internet). Dr. King's first point concerns unjust laws that appear to have been created to serve the needs of "power groups" at the expense of powerless groups, such as tax breaks on the federal Inheritance Tax which benefits the wealthy. His second point concerns just laws that were created to serve the needs of all citizens and which are obeyed by everyone regardless of social standing, such as laws forbidding murder. In essence, Dr. King is advocating civil unrest against those laws which he sees as unjust.

In contrast to Dr. King's views on just and unjust laws as they relate to civil disobedience, Socrates, upon considering Crito's suggestion that he escape from prison (interestingly, both King and Socrates are in jail for almost the exact same reason, namely, civil disobedience), rejects Crito's proposal and then offers his personal opinions on the matter. First, Socrates declares that "to escape is neither just nor is it good" for himself, reference to his agreement with the officials in the Greek city of Athens to obey their laws at all times as a citizen.

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Socrates adds that escape is not to his benefit because "he who does wrong cannot live well" and "if one cannot live well, life is not worth living" ("Plato's Crito," Internet).

Thus, Socrates feels that escaping from prison violates his agreement with Athens and will cause harm to the city; thus, "escaping is unjust" ("Plato's Crito," Internet). However, since Socrates is imprisoned because of his civil disobedience, i.e., being an "irritant" to society as in the case with Dr. King, one would think that Socrates would be willing to escape. In essence, Dr. King's civil disobedience was for the good of the whole as was Socrates' decision to reject Crito's proposal on escaping, due to his agreement with the city of Athens to abide by their laws regardless if he thought they were unjust.

In conclusion, under certain circumstances and conditions, a person is morally justified, if not required, to disobey unjust laws as a symbol of civil disobedience, provided that such action does not harm anyone in the process. Clearly, Dr. King's methods did bring about equality for not just African-Americans but for all Americans, while nothing changed in the case of Socrates who finally was executed and went to his grave believing that "if one cannot live well, life is not worth living.".....

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