Letter From A Birmingham Jail: Mill's Doctrine Of The Mean

Aristotle’s “Doctrine of the Mean” is supposed to help in regulating our desires to find a balance between too much and too little regulation. One of the virtues Aristotle gives is friendship, which is a balance between a deficiency of quarrelsomeness and an excess of flattery. To illustrate, a workmate who is nice and says hello to people in the hallway and occasionally invites others to his winery is a friendly person, the mean. An excess of friendship would be that same person inviting everyone to his place every weekend and engaging in long conversations with others whilst they are trying to do their work. Conversing is nice and going out is fun, but in moderation. Too much friendliness gives the impression of wanting something in return, in some cases. Aristotle would call the workmate that constantly gets into arguments with others every other day the …show more content…
King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a prime example of how Mill’s principle of utility is not very ethical normative theory. It should be noted, however, that unlike Bentham, Mill tried to reconcile utilitarianism with the world by introducing the harm principle and rule utilitarianism. Nonetheless, the principle of utility violates simple human rights as it is evident in the letter. Mill’s principle states that the right action to take is one that promotes overall happiness for the greatest number of people. The letter written by Dr. King states that unjust laws are those inflicted on the minority by the majority, when the minority had no say in it. The principle of utility does not give a voice to the minority. If an action, such as segregation, brings utility for the most number of people, who just happened to be white, then it is ethical according to the principle. Martin Luther King argues that this is unjust because this principle “degrades human personality.” The minority are people as well, and if they do not have a say then an injustice has been done to the