PSCI 2004 CU BOULDER FINAL

Locke on property rights

Your body is your first property

Tacit consent

Locke's theory that if you enjoy parts of government and consent to the social contract, you are also consenting to inequality

Rousseau on state of nature

State of nature > society

- society is ridden with pity + preservation

Rousseau on Religion

State religion is necessary, and mandatory

- If you don't participate in civic religion, you are unsociable

Rousseau for my memory

SAD, Crazy, hurt, abused (sexually) controller

Rousseau's state of nature

No language, not wanting anything

Rousseau's tolerance on religion

Practically none

- if you want to practice another religion other than the state, do it in private on your own time

Rousseau on Inequality

Natural and unavoidable, people are born more gifted than others

Rousseau on political inequality

Created through reason + greed

-Emphasis we place on different things

Rousseau on property

Unequal; establishments in civil society led to great catastrophes

Rousseau on Reason

Lead us to be more self-centered + egocentric which corrupted us

"Forced to be Free"

Rousseau theory; notion that we all must practice the same religion, censorship, + mandatory public festivals to be truly free

General Will

Rousseau's theory, that you should align your interest with others for the betterment of others - NOT the will of the Majority (Whats best for society, even if we can't see it)

Purpose of Gov't Rousseau

Protect property,

-negative connotation because property makes us greedy + self-interested

Kant's Categorical Imperative

We must act only according to that maxim that we would want everyone to follow + act upon

Kant on Humanity

Act in a way that you treat humanity as an end and not a means (be friends with someone for being a good person, not having $)

Principle of Autonomy (Kant)

You must act on a law you give yourself, not one you simply follow

-Looks to self for right/wrong

Duty (Kant )

Our motive to do something must come from morality not selfish interest

Kant on lying

It's NEVER okay, it is against the categorical imperative + destroys human relationships

Kant on Publicity principle

If you need something in secret, you shouldn't do it

Gov must have 3 political rights (Kant)

Humanity, Autonomy, + Universality

Kant for my memory

The 4th grade science teacher who collects rocks - harmless + kind

Bentham's focus

Utilitarianism

Bentham on Reason

All behavior should be aimed at creating the greatest utility (happiness)

- Take into account both the pain + pleasure of a particular act

Utilitarianism

Kant's shit, Maximize pleasure, minimize pain

Utilitarianism lacks

recognizing the motivation for an act, only focuses on the consequences (or lack thereof)

Bentham on equality

All people are equal, an individuals pleasure/pain is measured against the pain/pleasure of society as a whole

Reason (Bentham)

Believes we are driven by pleasure + avoidance of pain

Bentham for my memory

A hungry kid at the candy store (obsessed with pleasure + maximizing)

Capabilities Approach (Nussbaum)

3 components

-Internal capabilities

-Combined capabilities

-Functioning

Internal capabilities

characteristics of a person enable their internal capabilities

Combined capabilities

Internal capabilities plus the social/political/economic conditions in which functioning can actually be chosen

EX: Title 9

-Sports equipment +training used to be less accessible to women to function their internal capabilities

Functioning

Active realization of one or more capabilities

Ex: able to take care of one's body

Everyone should have these capabilities according to Nussbaum

1. Life

2. Bodily health

3. Bodily integrity

4. Senses

5. Emotions

6. Practical reason

7. Affiliation

8. Other species

9. Play

10. Control over one's environment

11. Material control

Challenge for capability 4 (Nussbaum)

How does gov ensure sexual pleasure (number 4)

Challenge for capability 7 (Nussbaum)

Does the right to affiliation guarantee having friends ? (7)

Challenge for capability 8 (Nussbaum)

Does the government have to take care of our pets? (8)

Challenge for capability 10 (Nussbaum)

Control over one's own environment might harm other groups?

Nussbaum's Political goal for humans

Not forcing people to play, but giving them the freedom to do so

-That is what it means to treat all people with respect (what she want from her gov)

Nussbaum's thoughts move towards...

-Universal personhood

-The utmost human rights

-Justice as normative , not only legal structure

-structurally oriented accounts

(economic, legal, + identity based)

Nussbaum for my memory

Demanding Baddie with new ideas

Burke on revolution

Revolution abandons tradition + prejudice

-Rapid change is suspicious + will destroy an institution

Burke on Government

Government purpose is to constrain us

Burke's guiding principles

Tradition + morality, not logic

Burke's concern with logic

Can be used to justify things, NOT good + CAN'T trust

Aesthetics for Burke

A set of principles concerned with nature + beauty

Importance of Aesthetics for Burke

If a government looks like a nice place, it will be a nice place

- Our country and institutions should be beautiful so that people respect power

Burke for my memory

Very conservative old man who loves Christmas (aesthetic aspect + traditions)

Mill on liberty

Crucial to developing ideas + between liberty + authority

3 types of liberty for mill

Liberty of association

Liberty of thoughts, feelings, + opinions

Liberty of pursuit of tastes

Threats on Liberty

Tyranny

Monarchy

Harm Principle (Mill)

The view that authorities are justified in restricting people's freedom to prevent harm to others

- used to protect against threats to liberty

Mill on human rights

Wants individual rights for everyone

-Need equal rights to allow the genius in each person to emerge

Mill on representative Government

NOT the job of senate/parliament to make legislation

- Those should be places of public debate

-Senators=watchdogs for the professionals who can create + administer laws

Why is mill against Representative government

-They can lack qualifications

-Can easily fall to corruption

-If participation is low among population, representative institutions loose value

Mill on Women

Mill thinks that having half the human race unable to contribute to society outside of the home as a hindrance to human development

Mill for my memory

Feminist man who doesn't want his liberties fooked with

Marx on capitalism

Money is how we evaluate each other

Ex: "I am ugly but I can buy myself beautiful women"

- We are hesitant to mistreat the rich

-We treat them kindly bc its a bad idea to tick them off

Marx on capitalism for society

Capitalism makes us compete, and disregard idea of self as community

-Capitalism is designed to keep us fighting

What is to be sold/profited off? (Marx)

Anything, sees no difference between sexual labor vs. manual labor

-Whatever makes you $$$

Capitalism negative effects on society (Marx)

Ruins societal friendliness

BUT doesn't think it's unjust because justice is a legal concept (illegal vs legal)

But does think its wrong

Marx: species being

Man vs animal

Consciousness, understand what you're doing and why you're doing it

- Men can build things and make them beautiful, animals can only build

- Humans must exist in relationships to be humane

Alienation (Marx)

Powerlessness resulting from dissociation from self in the setting of a workplace or job

- Worker becomes a commodity/object

Modern day application to alienation (Marx)

fast food employees, they don't see an end product or what their doing matters

Teleological Process (Marx)

Driven by species urge

-To create

-Be productive

-Treats self as a free-being (self-determination)

-Free development of mental + physical energy