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Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From A Birmingham Jail

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The two philosophical pieces I decided to work with included John Rawls' Theory of Justice and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From a Birmingham Jail. The reasoning behind pairing the two were the way the two approaches intertwined and could support each other. Rawls's and King's cases for justice had careful consideration of the human condition and could easily be applied to American society. Ultimately, the notion that justice could be achieved through means of questioning authority and preconceived ideas had the most appeal to me. Rawls was a political philosopher who questioned the way society was established—why did it seem so unfair? Why did individuals experiencing injustice have such a difficult time expressing that sense of injustice to more powerful …show more content…

These are the people not being heard by the higher powers. Rawls identifies two principles for the topic of justice. The first being that each individual should have the same rights to the liberties consistent with other people experiencing the same liberties. The second being that inequalities should be arranged so that they would be to everyone’s advantage. With these two principles, Rawls's concept of justice would be to give more attention to those born with fewer resources to achieve success socioeconomically. This type of justice is valuable because it gives the less fortunate a chance to be at the same level as a privileged person. The term justice can mean enabling any person to realize their full potential inside of their society despite certain attributes, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender, races, religions, and any other belief or culture. Everyone should be allowed equal opportunities so that they can have the chance to find their place in their community—whether they decide to be proactive or not. Giving

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