Victor Brown

Dr. Ford
Philosophy 1301
30 November 2013

The Treatment of the Vulnerable:

A Comparative Analysis of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil1
with King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail2

This writing is a comparative analysis of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil and Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. In most societies there is a lower class.
The have been called the poor the paupers the peasants even beggars and hobos. This paper gives
a comparative look on the feelings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
towards the weak and vulnerable lower class.

In Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche believed that life is “essentially a
process of appropriating, injuring, overpowering the alien and the weaker, oppressing, being
harsh, imposing your own form, incorporating, and at least, the very least, exploiting.” Nietzsche
wanted an aristocracy that included beating down the weak because he believed that the
enhancement of “man” has been the work of an aristocratic society because this type of society
believes in a long ladder of rank and order and value distinctions between men and in some sense
needs slavery. Nietzsche felt that the more complete beasts were the men whose nature was still
natural and barbaric. The predatory people who possessed an unbroken strength of will and lust
for power who threw themselves on the weaker more peaceful and civilized types. The noble
caste was the more barbarian caste with a psychic strength over the weaker and less complete.
Nietzsche’s comparison to the Javanese climbing plant was based on the fundamental belief that
society cannot for the sake of society, but only as a substructure and framework for raising an
exceptional type of being up to its higher duty and to a higher state of being. In the Javanese
climbing plant analogy, the oak tree is society and the Javanese climbing tree the exceptional
being who uses the tree to ascend higher and higher until although still supported by society
takes its rightful place above society and into the light. Nietzsche considers life to be good.
Nietzsche also considers life to be growing and spreading even within a body of people who
have a mutual respect and understanding of equality. For there to be growth, however, the body
as collective must find a lesser body for their will to power. In doing so, it will want to to grow
spread grab win dominance because life is precisely will to power. Nietzsche seems to feel that

1
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald
th
Abel, 4 ed. (New York City, NY: 2012), 378- 385.

Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in Fifty Readings in Philosophy,
2

ed. Donald Abel, 4th ed. (New York City, NY: 2012), 484-491.
[Type here]
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald Abel, 4th ed. (New
York City, NY: 2012), 378- 385.

2
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald Abel,
4th ed. (New York City, NY: 2012), 484-491.
the growth of one body must come at the expense of another. Nietzsche contrasts the 2 basic
types of morality, the master morality and the slave morality. Nietzsche believed the slave
morality he morality of utility. The contrast of slave and master morality is likened to the
opposition of good vs. evil. The 2 bring about certain positions powers and responses but to have
one you must acknowledge the other. The weaker uses the nobles as a means to survive because
that are at a least advantages position. The nobles use the weak to measure their own nobility a
utility.

In MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. feels that the
vulnerable blacks of Alabama should be treated justly and fairly and with the dignity and respect
that should be allowed. MLK wanted the constitutional rights of equality for black people. MLK
wanted black people to be treated like they were not lesser than white people. MLK wanted
black people to be able to feel safe and secure both among the people and even in their own
homes. The same freedoms to come and go and travel as anyone else would have without worry
or fear. MLK was tired of being told to “wait” for the process that was already in motion in other
parts of the world namely Asia and Africa. MLK wanted an understanding of just and unjust
laws and in that wanted the right to the just laws without the imposition of unjust laws. MLK
watched his friends and family be mistreated as the norm. Attacked and lynched, harassed and
disrespected as the norm of the time. MLK had to not only witness the mistreatment of his elders
but also watch the “ominous clouds of inferiority” become instilled in his young children’s
minds and hearts as they had to deal with the discrimination and the feeling that he could not
protect even his own children from the hate and injustices because someone else had all of the
control and those in control was telling him to wait. There was definitely a contradiction in the
fact that white people were OK with the mistreatment of blacks without having to deal with the
issues themselves. In fact, MLK felt that the contradiction made it easier for the white people to
accept the mistreatment of blacks because they did not have to experience it. And also, the
moderates who were “more devoted to ‘order’ than justice.” MLK did appeal to justice for
African Americans. MLK wanted just laws but not unjust laws, when MLK spoke about
Augustine’s, Aquinas’, Martin Buber, and Paul Tillich’s views of justice he was speaking of all
of the philosophers and theologians who opposed unjust laws and segregation. MLK wanted to
believe in democracy, he sat in a jail cell and was called an “extremist” for seeking justice and
fairness. He was villainized by those who he believed were the true villains. When carrying
righteousness and fairness on his shoulders and standing amongst those who were all but ready
to give up or get violent he wanted to believe in democracy but was losing faith in America as a
government and a country.

Of the 2 ideals, I am more inclined to go with Dr. Martin Luther King’s approach.
Nietzsche has many ideas that I respect but overall, he sees life as a competition. Nietzsche
believed in survival of the fittest and if for one body to succeed another must lose. Nietzsche
thought that the master/slave morality was necessary for growth and prosperity. MLK was pretty
[Type here]
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald Abel, 4th ed. (New
York City, NY: 2012), 378- 385.

2
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald Abel,
4th ed. (New York City, NY: 2012), 484-491.
much the exact opposite. MLK believed that oppression and the need to keep an entire body of
people down out of hatred and spite was wrong. MLK believed that a justice system that
supported oppression and segregation was wrong and that the open an unfiltered mistreatment
and disrespect of an entire group of people is wrong. I believe that in competition there are
winners and losers. I believe that in competition those who work hard and earn the winning spot
deserves and those who come up short should live to compete another day in hopes of an
eventual win. Where MLK and I disagree with Nietzsche is that life should not be competition
based. Living life to succeed at the expense of others seems to be a very selfish way to go about
things. And even if you are in a society of other like-minded people whose common goal is to
succeed at the expense of the next society, the need for winning and ascendance doesn’t go away
with satisfaction and contentment. It seems to me that once there is no longer a society to make
the lesser body the individualism will set in and your comrades soon become your opponents.

[Type here]
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald Abel, 4th ed. (New
York City, NY: 2012), 378- 385.

2
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in Fifty Readings in Philosophy, ed. Donald Abel,
4th ed. (New York City, NY: 2012), 484-491.