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A Dangerous Idea: Nonviolence as Tactic and Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2020

Nico Slate
Nico Slate*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Carnegie Mellon University
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: slate@cmu.edu
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Abstract

While some American civil rights activists professed belief in the “philosophy of nonviolence,” others declared nonviolent civil disobedience to be “a tactic rather than a philosophy.” Like many dichotomies, the tactic-versus-philosophy distinction combined as much as it divided. Those who viewed nonviolence as a tactic or method were treated as akin regardless of how much they differed in their tactics or methods. Similarly, those who believed in the philosophy of nonviolence were lumped together with each other and with those who saw nonviolence as a “way of life.” The history of the tactic-versus-philosophy dichotomy provides a unique window on the role of nonviolence within the American civil rights movement.

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Articles
Information
Modern Intellectual History , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 1130 - 1154
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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39 “Workshop on School Desegregation Morning Session,” Youth Project Campers Panel, 15 Aug. 1960, Folder 8, Box 15, Highlander Folk School Manuscript Collection, Tennessee State Library and Archive.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

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45 Adler, “Letter from Selma”; Horsey, “The Road to Selma.”

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