Poli 271 Test 2

Burke’s life

• born Ireland

• Founder of English conservatism

• Early critic of liberalism

• Parliamentarian

Burke supported which causes

• Supported the grievances of the American colonies

• Led impeachment efforts against Warren Hastings, the former Governor-General of Bengal in India

• Promoted removal of legal penalties against Catholics

• First legislative proposal to end slave trade and slavery within the British Empire

What was The Glorious Revolution (1688)

“Glorious” bc bloodless

“Next best” sets of rulers reinstalled

English Bill of Rights passed

• Bloodless, rearticulate existing constitution, political

  stability, precipitated by religious conflict between

  Parliament and king

The French Revolution (1789) vs The Glorius Revolution (1688)

New constitution vs “rearticulating” existing constitution

Precipitated by material inequality and financial problems vs religious conflict between Protestant parliament and the Catholic King

Burke believed: Real liberty is _____________

• acting within tried-and-true norms, customs, and institutions.

• Politics based on philosophical ideas is a dangerous practice

Reflections on the Revolution in France: Framed on what 3 ideas?

1. The French Revolution

2. Responding to “A Discourse on the Love of our Country” by Dr. Richard Price.

3. The Glorious Revolution

• Concerned about the French Revolution spreading to

  Europe

Burke believed in what liberty

• Love for “manly, moral, regulated liberty”

• French Revolution an “abuse of liberty”

• The Bill of Rights inscribes the rights of Englishman, not universal rights

3 ways Burke rebuts Price

1. We can choose our own king. [William and Mary came to the throne out of necessity not choice]

2. We can “cashier” (indict and impeach) our own king. [Vague. Also, extremely forceful and violent]

3. We can make our own government (via social contract) if we wish. [GR did not remake government. Also, rights don’t come from a natural state but more through inheritance]

Burke’s idea of Institutions and Traditions

Institutions have a collective wisdom
and intelligence that individuals don’t have. Tradition preserves institutions and conceals the unpleasant elements in them.

• makes people less fearful of political power

French revolution characteristics according to Burke

Bloody, new constitution, political instability, precipitated by material inequalities

What kind of institutional change does Burke like?

• In favor of slow institutional change that keeps the edifice.

• Why?

  • Theory doesn’t always match practice

  • Inherent wisdom of institutions

Burker: For monarchies to stand the test of time, _________________

their harsh facades need to be softened

Burke: how are reason and tradition related?

Tradition has reason embedded in it

What does burke think about inequality?

-believes it is natural and necessary

-essence of property is it is that unequal

What does burke think about hierarchy?

• Hierarchy is tradition and important, should not be changed

• ordinary people, like “hairdressers” are not fit to rule

Burke: slow vs radical change

Slow change preserves the wisdom inherent in traditions and institutions. Radical change disrupts these without the means to implement a superior wisdom

The Burkean contract

• Partnership between living, dead, and yet to be born

• Only absolute necessity, not right, justifies revolution

Burke thinks that political rights are like property because:

Rights are passed down from one generation to the next

Burke’s opinions on change and time

• time helps change Woooccur slowly and fast change is not good for human beings

Wollstonecraft life/background

• No formal education (only her brother did)

• Family formerly wealthy but father mismanaged finances

• Founded a school, and wrote many books, some feminist

• reviewed Price’s sermon on the French Revolution

Vindication of the rights of men was written in response to

• written by wollstonecraft in response to burke,

• later wrote for rights of women

How does wollstonecraft feel about traidtion and rights?

Tradition, no matter how amenable to rights, is an unstable foundation for rights because it does not ground rights on principle.

_______ over tradition (wollstonecraft)

• reason

• burke draws conclusions without previous evidence

• Burke can’t see the deficient parts of tradition

• blind adherence to tradition caused terrible practices like slave trade as example (moral principle vs customs)

which social contract does wollstonecraft support?

• Rousseauean social compact

• self preservation is first law of nature and helps unfold mind

• government should be good like a good parent and inspire affection

____________ over manners, wollstonecraft

• morality

• european ciivlization has priotized refinment of behavior (manners) over genuine moral values

• Social customs and opinions= often lacking true conviction or thought (leading to society that values appearance over virtue)

Wollstonecraft main critique of burke

1. Politics based on reason, not tradition

2. Reason → natural rights. Governments that don't respect natural rights are illegitimate

3. Tradition that violates natural rights is tyrannical and should be torn down

4. French revolution is a positive event

Mill background

• Son of Scottish Utilitarian philosopher

• Read Greek by 3, Latin by 8

• Rigorous and analytical education

• Mental breakdown at 20, turn towards poetry

• Feminist thinker Harriet Taylor influence on Mill

Mill: The gravest danger to liberty of thought ________________________

• comes not from government but society

• Neither government nor society

  should interfere with individual liberty unless to prevent harm to others.

Mill: With mass society, individual needs to be protected against

• social despotism

• Since antiquity, politics about the struggle between rulers and the ruled

What is the harm principle

• individual and collective interference

• Law, society, government as agents

• Self-regarding vs other-regarding acts

• Goodness, rightness, happiness not sufficient for interference

• BUT not a call to indifference

3 Domains of individual freedom

• Liberty of thought/conscience

• Liberty of tastes and pursuits

• Liberty to unite or assemble together

Mill-Why is liberty important

• Intrinsic argument – liberty is good in itself, independent of

  any other value

• Instrumental argument – liberty is valuable as a means to

  other goods, like truth

• utility foundation of ethical deicions but must consider mankind’s long term interests and development

Liberty as a ____________ mechanism

• truth finding

• What society considers as “truth” changes over time, liberty gives people a chance to figure out the real truth

• Ex: Galileo (heliocentrism, persecuted but now regarded as true)

• Ex: Socrates, persecuted, father of western philosophy

Why is society greatest danger to liberty?

• No more persecution but social sanctioning and intolerance

• Mass society, eduction, democracy

• Loss of individuality and authenticity but we don’t have to overturn society!

Mill compares human nature to a ______

• living tree, not a machine

• people should be allowed to grow and develop freely, not try to fit a certain model or role

Individuality and progress are

• connected. Liberty does not ensure individuality

• Interference on individual liberty is limited by the harm principle

Mill defines character as result of

• individuality and self-development

• person with character acts based on their own desires and impulses, shaped by their unique nature and personal experiences not conforming to societal expectations

Mills: Genius in relation to freedom

• person of genius can only grow and express their ideas in an air of freedom

• Genius vs customs and tradition

Mills ideas about progress

• Importance of allowing new and unconventional ideas, and society can determine which are good enough to become customs

• Europe not the birthplace of individuality it used to be –

  industrialization; mass education; mass communication

Mills: can “uncivilized” societies made to be free

• No, not all societies were immediately ready for the kind of freedom enjoyed by more "civilized" societies

• uncivilized" societies could become free through gradual development, but not through import from other societies

• a ruler deeply committed to improvement is justified in using any necessary means to achieve progress.

Mill, the liberal, not libertarian: 4 points

Ex: trade

1. Trade is a social act

2. Free Trade not a liberty but utility principle

3. Public control over trade is admissible for certain ends

4. Restraint and control not desirable, but in these cases not unjust.

Second version of harm principle

• When someone's actions harm or neglect obligations to others, these actions leave the realm of personal freedom and become subject to moral criticism and societal judgment.

• Distinction between unpleasant and unjust/morally wrong

Harm principle-Some things to consider:

• If under HP, then state intervention justified

• Individual responsibility for liberty

• Public opinion a double-edged sword

• HP doesn’t explain all of morality

Applying the Harm Principle

• A person walking to death without realizing
  • A person willingly undertaking a lethal act
  • Gambling in one’s own house vs operating gambling
  houses
  • Sale of alcohol
  – Taxation of alcohol

Mill-Limitations on government

1. Some things should be left to individuals to do= developmental value of personal responsibility and active participation

2. Government shouldn’t be occupied by the best and the
   brightest—a balance between experts and broad democratic participation (don’t rely solely on ruling elite, leads to disconnection)

How does Mill feel about inequality between sexes?

• Inequality between sexes is wrong,
  despite its appearance of being natural.

• Many things need to change to achieve equality, from individual attitudes to government policies to laws.

laws and norms that enshrine women’s inequality

1. Husband legally considered the lord (sovereign) of wife (murder of husband by wife called treason)

2. Women don’t have independent property in marriage.

3. Women typically granted “pin-money”

4. “Last familiarity” women’s moral obligation in marriage

Why does society (still) have gender inequality?

1. Gender equality has never been tested

2. Gender inequality was never debated or discussed

Mill: Institutions and nature

• What exists as a matter of fact not necessarily natural

• Conflation of natural (that which exists as a matter of fact) and morally right

• Inequalities exist as a matter of fact, but are not right/just

According to Mill, gender equality should not be achieved through:

Affirmative action policies

How does social construction play a role in women’s inequality?

Women have been socially conditioned to feel and believe themselves inferior
• But they also consent to their inferiority via marriage
• Solution:
1. Individual the judge of what’s right and wrong
2. Equality of opportunity

What is the role of the family for gender equality?

• Husbands and wives should be equal decision-makers

• Family is a school of equality

• Women should have the power of earning for independence

Marx background

• Born in Germany, died in england

• Influence of Hegel

• Friendship with Engels

Marx overall impact

- Critique of capitalism
- Critical theory
- Communist Revolutions

Marx feelings on Capitalism is a bad but _______ step in march _____________

• Capitalism is a bad but necessary

  step in the march towards communism. In the process, the working class (proletariat) will

  replace the old revolutionary class, the bourgeoise.

How did marx think differently from liberal thinks of his time

• liberal thinkers focused on limiting or controlling the power of the state to protect individual freedom

• Marx aimed to address the state’s inability to solve societal problems, particularly the "social question" and why

What is “The social question?

The Working Day: working and living conditions in the 19th century:

• Unregulated capitalism

• Child labor

• Long hours under terrible conditions

History of all society is history of

• class struggle

• the bourgeoise is a revolutionary class, the class that overthrows feudal relations

• Within capitalism, the revolutionary class is the proletariat.

Revolution: who, what, when?

Led by communist intellectuals (the vanguard) – but will they give up power?

• against materialism; human activity transofrms the world

• Must change the world, instead of interpreting like philosophers

Marx: Estrangement results from______________

• Estrangement results from the worker being separated from the object s/he has created.

• Capitalist production perverts this human condition and causes alienation.

What is Marx’s philosophical anthropology?

• Theory of what kind of being humans are

• Homo faber: Human the Maker

  • Beyond necessity

  • Craft, beautify

• humans define themselves through active labor and change the world through it

4 types of alienation

1. from labor’s product

2. from the process of production

3. from one’s species being

4. from fellow humans

Alienation from labor’s product

• His labor confronts the worker as an alien thing

• They doesn’t get to enjoy it, control it, etc.

• labor creates physical objects, but this capitalist process alienates the worker

Alienation from the process of production

• Worker doesn’t control the process of production; it’s

  imposed upon them

• forced labor, done solely to meet external needs, not for personal satisfaction or self-expression.

Alienation from one’s species being

• productive labor is essential to human nature, or "species-life."

• life-activity is a means to life, what animals do

• Conscious life-activity is self-directed, what humans do

Alienation from fellow humans

• every man sees the others according to their position, bourgeosie vs proletariet

• Also Worker vs worker

History is determined by the _________

• by the material conditions of existence, what we produce and how we produce them.

• Religion and philosophical ideas don’t have an existence o effect independent from material conditions

Which 2 philosophers is the material conception of history against?

• Against the idealism of Young Hegelians: “Consciousness does

  not determine life, but life determines consciousness.”

• Against the materialism of Feuerbach: Even the most basic things in life are given to him only through social development, industry and commercial relationships.

First premise & historical act (historical materialism)

• First premise: existence of living individuals

• First historical act: men producing their means of subsistence

• Marx's theory is grounded in empirical observations of real individuals and their material conditions

What does this mean: The Mode of Production is the Mode of Life

• the way society produces goods and organizes labor directly shapes the way people live

• In a communist mode of production, social life and culture would likely be organized around collective responsibility and equality.

• capitalism, the economic need for profit maximization often leads to a focus on individual success and private property, which then influences social norms like the idea of personal freedom and individual rights.

• The forces of production break free of the current relations of production

• Results in new Mode of Production, new Mode of Life

What does this mean First comes material production, then the rest

• Historical change happens because of changes in the mode of production

  • E.g., the abolition of serfdom and slavery

• Morality, ideas, religion, and ethics follow from material conditions

• Mental production serves material production

Economic Base--the mode of production:

• what superstructure is built off of

• consists of the forces of production (such as technology, labor, and materials) and the relations of production (how production is organized and who controls the means of production).

The Superstructure

• Set of social, political, and ideological systems and institutions that are built upon the economic base (or infrastructure) of society

• Law, morality, and religion

• Culture

• Family

• National loyalties

• Ideas & Consciousness

Modern state serves _____________________

• Modern state serves the interests of the ruling class by protecting private property. Law is simply a mechanism to legitimate class oppression

Truth of Modern state and capitalism

• State protects private property

• The law and the illusion of general interest

• The right to property is an empty idea

What’s different about capitalism?

• Intolerable working conditions

• Technology  communication & productivity

• Vanguard

• Proletariat a universal class

What does communist society look like?

• Work self-directed

• Transition period

• Change in human nature

• How to ensure production?