Martin Luther King Jr. and civil disobedience as an appeal to political emotions of the public

Abstract

This work aims to write about civil disobedience, defending an interpretation, based chiefly on an analysis of Martin Luther King Jr’s philosophical contributions, whereby this form of political claim has as one of its distinctive features, perhaps its core feature, the repair of injustices through evoking certain political (or moral) emotions in the target public, raising in him an emotional transformation or awakening. First, I resume the early evolution of civil disobedience concept and practice carried out by Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr in the XX century. Secondly, I sketch an comparison between some elements of John Rawls’ approach and King’s, detaching the emotional emphasis given by the latter in his defence of the principles which ought to guide civil disobedience. Last, following this interpretation, and to give more clarity for the consequences arising from the suggested focus shift on the understanding of the concept, I make appointments towards some recent critics adressed by Robin Celikates against John Rawls’ liberal civil disobedience.