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Short Critique of Martin Luther King Jr’s Criteria for Just Laws and Legal Obedience
Philosophy Essay Mingkun Wu Philosophy Essay Mingkun Wu

Short Critique of Martin Luther King Jr’s Criteria for Just Laws and Legal Obedience

Mainly taking issue with the conjunctive nature of King’s criteria for determining just laws, I argue that these criteria are not defined clearly enough to be generalized. I then extend this critique to show that his criteria for just law can be internally contradictory and lead to a dilemma. Following from this discussion, in the second part, I point out that King’s way of establishing the moral obligation to obey or disobey laws is currently too inadequate to be applied more generally, as more nuances need to be considered before establishing negative moral obligation.

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