Revolution of Conscience Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Philosophy of Nonviolence

by Moses, Greg

• ISBN13: 9781572301696
• ISBN10: 1572301694
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-12-20
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

In a world where we continue to settle our differences with guns and bombs, many of us perceive any philosophy of nonviolence as passive, outdated, and intrinsically bound to religious beliefs. We laud one of the most famous proponents of nonviolent resistance, Martin Luther King, Jr., as an activist and orator, but seldom acknowledge him as an important intellectual. Seeking to correct these misunderstandings, Greg Moses's powerful book at last identifies King as one of the greatest thinkers of our time/m-/one whose philosophy has deep, unappreciated roots and lasting consequences.

Author Biography

Greg Moses, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Marist College. He lives in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Austin, Texas. A former journalist, he spent 10 years as a contributing writer at the Texas Observer.

Table of Contents

Introduction THE LOGIC OF NONVIOLENCE	1	(22)
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Intellectual	1	(9)
King's Life and Thought	10	(4)
King and Contemporary Thought	14	(9)
Chapter 1 EQUALITY	23	(23)
Frederick Douglass and the Criteria of Intellectual Honesty	23	(7)
King's American Dream	30	(6)
The Example of Frederick Douglass	36	(7)
Philosophy's Color Line	43	(3)
Chapter 2 STRUCTURE AND RACE	46	(49)
W. E. B. Du Bois and the Problem of the Color Line	46	(7)
Reviewing King's Usage	53	(11)
Nineteenth-Century Precedents	64	(16)
The Century of the Color Line	80	(9)
Little Kingdom of Salt	89	(6)
Chapter 3 STRUCTURE AND CLASS	95	(49)
A. Philip Randolph, Ralph J. Bunche, and the Context of Class Analysis	95	(4)
Classical Foundations of Structural Theory	99	(8)
Class Analysis Meets Race	107	(6)
Randolph vs. Du Bois	113	(8)
Imperatives of Radical Theory	121	(4)
Bunche's World View	125	(13)
King and the Race-Class Question	138	(6)
Chapter 4 NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION	144	(41)
Howard Thurman and the Ethics of Love	144	(7)
Jesus as Ethical Model	151	(4)
The Tactic Defended	155	(7)
Breaking the Cycle of Fear	162	(6)
Six Aspects of Nonviolent Struggle	168	(8)
An Experimental Technique	176	(4)
Thurman's View of Jesus	180	(5)
Chapter 5 JUSTICE AND LOVE	185	(42)
Of Ends and Means	185	(6)
Bringing Love to Black Power	191	(4)
Bringing Justice to Liberalism	195	(7)
King's World House of Tough-Minded Love	202	(4)
Jesus in Jail in Texas	206	(5)
A Philosophy of Liberation?	211	(8)
Epilogue for a Tough Mind	219	(8)
Appendix	227	(2)
Bibliography	229	(5)
Index	234