GWM Midterm Exam
Discuss in detail Marx' idea of Surplus and its relation to socio-economic organization and history
- "By working collectively man produces far more than when he works separately. The difference is called SURPLUS" Ex: 10 men working collectively can produce 1000 cars, 10 men working separately can produce 10 cars, the surplus here is 990 cars - How this surplus is distributed describes the differences between economic systems throughout history - Tribal community: means of production owned collectively, chief gets most of it, slaves get nothing - Feudal society: lord owns means of production and enjoys part of the surplus (without having to work for it), serf owns right to use means of production but also enjoys part of the surplus - Capitalist society: bourgeoisie privately own the means of production, pay laborers a minimal wage, exploiting them and taking all of their surplus - Communist society: private ownership of means of production is abolished, owned collectively by workers, each worker gets equal share of the surplus - Summary: man can produce far more collaboratively than independently, this excess amount is called SURPLUS, and the way it is distributed defines the economic systems throughout history; tribal -> surplus goes all to chief, slaves get nothing; feudal -> lord owns means of production, serf uses and receives share of surplus while giving rest to lord; capitalist -> worker paid wage for their labor, receives no share of surplus; communist -> surplus is shared equally between laborers
What are Rousseau's points of critique against Hobbes?
- "Hobbes maintains that man is naturally intrepid and seeks only to attack and to fight" - Rousseau argues that primitive man is self-sufficient and solitary, living amongst animals. Man far surpasses the animals in ability, and thus they have no natural predators, so there's no reason for them to be violent. - "Let us not conclude with Hobbes that because man has no idea of goodness he is naturally evil; that he is vicious because he does not know virtue" - Rousseau argues that since the primitive man is independent, they lack the dependency of others to abuse, and thus are incapable of committing evil. Their robust nature invalidates the need to inflict harm on others, which means being evil is contradictory to their lifestyle - Primitive man possesses pity, which Rousseau believes is the foundation of all virtue - Hobbes argued in 1651 that savage man was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". - Hobbes focused on the projection of aggression, ambition and other civil vices onto a savage man who is in fact timid and lives dispersed. Summary: Hobbes -> savage man is violent, wild, untamed, no conception of virtue so cannot be virtuous; Rousseau -> savage man is solitary, no need to be violent since they are apex predator, virtuous because they possess pity
According to Kant's 5th and 6th Principle, the Vocation and Task of the human species to achieve a universal civil society is the highest, hardest and last to be solved. Explain why this is the case
- "Only under such a constitution can there be achieved the supreme objective of nature, namely, the development of all the faculties of man by his own effort. It is also nature's intent that man should secure all these ends by himself only in a society that not only possesses the greatest freedom and hence a ery general antagonism of its members but also possesses the most precise determination and enforcement of the limit of this freedom so that it can coexist with the freedom of other societies" - Achieving a universal civil society is the hardest and last to be solved because every man needs a master to regulate their actions or else they will abuse their freedom, but then that master needs a master of their own. Thus a perfect solution is impossible,as human nature prevents an infinite system of hierarchies - Summary: formation of universal civil society is integral for assisting in the development of faculties, as it ensures freedom and minimizes obstacles; this is very difficult because every man needs a master to regulate their own actions and prevent abuse, but that master needs a master of their own, so there is no perfect solution to preventing the master at the top of the hierarchy from abusing their position
Compare the way of life of the Savage man with that of the Civilized man
- "Savage man breathes only tranquility and liberty; he wants simply to live and rest easy" - Savage man desires an easy life, self-sufficient and works only for themselves, maximizes freedom and minimizes stress, no inequality since independent - "The citizen is always active and in a sweat, always agitated, and unceasingly tormenting himself in order to seek still more laborious occupations. He works until he dies; he even runs to his death in order to be in a position to live, or renounces life in order to achieve immortality" - Civilized man is constantly working, challenging themselves, in order to secure their existence through a wage; no freedom, dependent on others, difficult lifestyle, riddled with inequality because they are social and materialistic - Civilized society became the image of man straying from his natural state of freedom and independence to yield to his desires - Civilized man has curated his appearance to seem well esteemed to society. It became a "requisite for men to be thought what they really were not" as "to be and to appear became two very different things". This is a change in man's nature from good to both "two faced and crooked". Man's deception came from the growing comparison in private property and the desire to be thought of well. It is this obsession with society and image which Rousseau critiques so hardly as unnatural and evil. Summary: savage -> simple, free, solitary life; civilized -> challenging, laborious, insecure, social life, no liberty
Mill: Explain how feelings are shaped and developed
- "The practical principle which guides them to their opinions on the regulation of human conduct, is the feeling in each person's mind that everybody should be required to act as he, and those with whom he sympathizes, would like them to act. No one, indeed, acknowledges to himself that his standard of judgment is his own liking; but an opinion on a point of conduct, not supported by reasons, can only count as one person's preference; and if the reasons, when given, are a mere appeal to a similar preference felt by other people, it is still only many people's likings instead of one." - "Men's opinions, accordingly, on what is laudable or blamable, are affected by all the multifarious causes... Sometimes their reason--at other times their prejudices or superstitions: often their social affections, not seldom their antisocial ones, their envy or jealousy, their arrogance or contemptuousness: but most commonly their desires or fears for themselves--their legitimate or illegitimate self-interest." - Feelings are developed by self-interest, which are affected by prejudice, superstition, envy, jealousy, arrogance, contempt, etc, all things that are fallible or sinful
Mill: Discuss the expression, "Tyranny of the Majority" and the means with which this majority tyrannizes.
- "There needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them". (p20) - "There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence". (p20) - Summary: Tyranny of the majority is when the majority, or at least the group that has assembled themselves as the majority of those with political influence, of a society uses their power to oppress any minority groups or whoever else does not fit within their majority. They do so using democracy, which grants its power and institutions to the majority of the population, allowing them to abuse this power and oppress those outside of the majority.
Discuss the relation between Wage labor and Capitalism and contrast it with labor in Feudal and Communist societies
- Capitalism: worker is a wage laborer, sells their work for a fixed amount, which is typically minimal; worker has to compete with others on the job market, has no rights that secure employment, exploited so owner of means of production can squeeze as much profit as possible; receives no share of surplus; in case of innovation, worker receives same wage while capitalist receives greater surplus - Feudal: worker doesn't own means of production, but has the right to work on it, in return for paying the lord a share of the surplus. If there is technological innovation, both the worker and the lord profit, as the surplus increases and thus they both receive a greater share - Communist: the surplus is shared equally with workers, as they collectively own means of production; technological improvements do not reduce the price of the product, but instead the amount of labor that workers must input, giving them more leisure time; workers are not exploited for their wage labor, as they are paid fairly with share of the profits and not at minimal rate - Summary: in capitalism laborers are paid a fixed wage, typically minimal, so that they can survive and continue coming back to work, if productivity improves they receive the same wage. This system is inherently exploitative because the laborer is paid not what they are worth or for the value they produce but instead the bare minimum; feudal -> no wage labor, serfs receive share of the surplus they produce, more fair because if they perform better or create new technology their share becomes larger; communist -> surplus shared equally with workers, no wage labor, improvements mean less time spent at work and better life
What is ethnocentrism + give example
- Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of one culture with the standards and customs of one's own culture. ex. Seeing another culture that eats using their hands as inferior because we use utensils. - Projecting own cultural values and norms onto another group
Discuss estrangement under capitalism. and illustrate it with an example
- In a capitalist economy industry is made to be as easy as possible through machines, making it so that anybody can perform the labor, and thus be paid a minimal wage - Consequently, the worker becomes "an appendage of the machine", as the machine does almost all of the work for them, making their work extremely monotonous and simple - Not only does the laborer have minimal leisure time because of the profit-maximizing system, but also their work is soul-crushing and pointless, further eroding any meaning in their lives, hence why they become estranged under capitalism - Example: the laborer in the movie we watched in class, their job consisted entirely of pulling levers, something so easy a child could do it (hence why child labor was so prevalent in early industrial period), as a result their work seemed very pointless - Summary: workers are estranged under capitalism because their work is so easily and pointless that it feels meaningless and unfulfilling, also they have no incentive to work beyond the bare minimum (EX: person in office cubicle job that spends most of their time doing nothing, becomes disenfranchised with work because it feels pointless and boring)
Kant: Discuss Enlightenment, its relation to maturity, and what or who keeps man from becoming Enlightened
- Kant sees enlightenment as "man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity" - the inability to use to think for oneself. The only thing that keeps man from becoming enlightened is man himself. This is because it is much more convenient to stay immature. People would rather have others do the thinking rather than do it for themselves. - Summary: Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity, as they gain the ability to think for oneself. It is man that prevents themselves from becoming enlightened, as they would much rather stay immature and allow others to think for them since it is much easier
Mill: On Liberty: Discuss, in some depth, the question of the regulation of human conduct
- Man generally believes that their own feelings are more important than reason when deciding their behavior, and they think that everyone should be required to act as he would like them to, blind to the fact that their judgment is decided solely on their own reason and not supported by reason, and that it is only one person's opinion - People's feelings are much more fallible than reason, influenced by superstition, envy, jealousy, contempt, self-interest, thus it is important to regulate this conduct - SUMMARY: human conduct must be regulated because people generally operate not on reason, but instead purely on their own feelings, and failing to moderate this means that people will inevitably only act in their own self-interest and not for the benefit of society. Unlike reason, peoples' feelings are highly fallible, because they can be influenced by emotion and superstition, and ultimately are only the opinion of one individual rather than representing the collective.
Describe what forced men to live together, and how it changed him
- Natural events (earthquakes, etc) broke portions of the continent into islands, where humans centralized - These causes gradually encouraged humans to "gradually flock together, coalesce into several separate bodies, and at length form in every country distinct nations, united in characters and manners, not by any laws or regulations, but by a uniform manner of life, a sameness of provisions, and the common influence of the climate." - Man now lived in society, instead of in isolation, dramatically changing their behavior; "men begin to consider different objects, and to make comparisons; they insensibly acquire ideas of merit and beauty, and these soon produce sentiments of preference" Inequality emerges because of these new preferences, while also creating the vices of vanity and contempt, shame and envy - "From this came the first duties of civility, even among savages; and from this every voluntary wrong became an outrage, because along with the harm that resulted from the injury, the offended party saw it in contempt for his person" - Summary: Natural events (earthquakes, volcanos) broke continent into islands, forced populations to centralize, from there societies are created which possess common customs and values fit for their circumstances; man becomes materialistic and insecure in society, wants to be praised by peers, inequality emerges and so does evil, laws put in place to organize society
Kant: Discuss public and private use of reason and its relation to Enlightenment. Illustrate your response with an example for each type of use
- Public use of reason is when you are addressing the whole population, the public. Private use of reason is when addressing a much smaller group of people, like in the workplace. Kant suggests that there should not be any limits on what one says when they are addressing the public i.e. books, newspapers, etc (publishing articles about how tyrannical the government is). The public use of reason is vital in that it alone can bring about enlightenment for all. However, he argues that in private, there should be some restrictions for the greater good (not arguing in the workplace). - Summary: private use of reason -> addressing a small group of people in a private setting, such as a classroom; public -> addressing the general public through media accessible to everyone, such as writing a book. Public reason is most important as it can bring enlightenment to all and is accessible to everyone, and thus should not be restricted in order to ensure enlightenment. Private use of reason should have restrictions where appropriate, i.e. no shouting in the classroom
Discuss how reason is used in civil society
- Reason "dictates to him maxims directly contrary to those that public reason preaches to the body of society, and where each finds his profit in the misfortune of others" - Reason commands selfish desires. - Man aspires to perfect faculties like reason, because it allows them to exploit their peers and amplify inequality to their own benefit (EX: someone may use reason to imply that a member of society is savage and that they are not deserving of equal treatment)
What is meant with the 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat'
- The 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' is when all means of production are controlled and managed by the proletariat class, the working class. "The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise all instruments of production in the hands of the State, i.w., of the proletariat organised as the ruling class; and to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible" (52). - Dictatorship of the proletariat is when the working class uses their collective power to centralize all means of production, abolishing private ownership of means of production and seizing it from bourgeoisie
Discuss the 'trick of the rich' to stop bandits?
- The 'trick of the rich' to stop bandits was a way for the rich to create laws that in the law affect everyone equally but in reality, only affect the poor. A modern-day example would be raising income taxes because only the rich have the money and power to use loopholes to get around it, but the poor and middle class do not. - Poor man band together as bandits and rob and attack the rich, who have no counterargument when the poor argue that they have no basis for their property claims. - War emerges. - The rich think of a trick to turn their enemies into allies. They propose to unite and create laws, equal to all, that protect the lives and property of each. This legitimization of poverty benefits almost exclusively the rich. -The poor, tired of the endless war, accept the proposal and so, become dependent on the rich for their survival. - This progress is inevitable "for those vices which render social institutions necessary are the same which render the abuse of such institutions unavoidable". The powerful will always find a way to satisfy their ambition, through false promises and deception. - Creating laws to resolve conflict between rich and poor, that seem to benefit both parties, but in reality disproportionately benefit the rich
Why must the bourgeoisie constantly revolutionize the instruments of production, and how does this affect the proletarians?
- The bourgeoisie is constantly attempting to revolutionize their instruments of production because the market is highly competitive, and if they do not do so then they will fall behind their competitors and experience dramatically lower profits - Because of this, when a technological innovation is made, the proletarians see no benefit, as any improvement in production is used to lower the prices of products so as to maximize profits, and thus the laborer is paid the same pitiful wage - SUMMARY: bourgeois must constantly revolutionize instruments of production to stay competitive, as if they don't then their competitors will. By improving production they can lower the prices of their goods and generate a higher profit, but the proletarian sees no share of that benefit and are paid the same low wage.
Discuss the origin of property and slavery
- The savage man embarks on projects that can be completed solely by themselves, thus they have no need for slavery, because the assistance of others is of no benefit - However, "from the moment one man began to stand in need of another's assistance, all equality vanished; property started up; labour became necessary; and boundless forests became smiling fields, which it was found necessary to water with human sweat, and in which slavery and misery were soon seen to sprout out and grow with the fruits of the earth" - The notion of property emerges from the beginning of agriculture, as property is created when someone puts labor into a piece of land. Ownership of land becomes incredibly important because the owner must put work into it in order to receive their products - Summary: savage man -> no need for slavery, can do everything by themselves; agriculture -> need for additional labor, slavery becomes beneficial, property values also emerge because land must be worked and secured for long time to ensure production
Discuss the principle that should govern the dealings of society with the individual and the limits of application of this principle
- There is a need for a codified constitution or some sort of binding authority for checks and balances. -In addition to this codified constitution, man needs to vote seriously on what the government should have a mandate over. - "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others" (p26). The Harm Principle. - "His independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign". (26). - People are very conflicted on the role of government, as some believe the government should interfere with all matters regardless of how small, while others believe government's role should be minimal to maximize freedom - This principle is limited in that it can only apply to those in maturity of their faculties; the government would be obligated to exercise their power to protect children from themselves as well as from harming others, as they are not mature enough or capable to survive without the interference of the government - Summary: the principle that ought to govern society is one of self-protection, and the only purpose for the government to exercise its power is to prevent harm to others; government cannot exercise power for one's own good, but only to protect one from inflicting harm on someone else, unless for those who have undeveloped faculties such as children
What is Mill's critique of 'those who have been advanced in society' in respect to their critique of the 'likings and dislikings' of society'?
- Those advanced in society have tended to project their own likings and dislikings onto society, forcing them to live according to their own beliefs, without ever considering whether the people should be subjected to such conditions in the first place - In doing so they've neglected the freedom of the people, which is far more important as people should be free to live however they want, rather than forcefully according to how those in power want them to - Summary: those advanced in society force their subjects into living according to their own likings and dislikings, instead of giving them the freedom to live however they want, so long as they don't harm others. They should consider whether they even have the right to project their opinions onto the rest of the population.
What is the function of ideology in history?
- Throughout history ideologies constantly change, with new sets of ideas coming in to replace the old ones Furthermore, throughout history as the circumstances of material production have changed, so too has the intellectual production; the ideology of each age has always been that of the ruling class, for they have the most power, and can use it to manipulate the public by instilling their ideas - SUMMARY: Ideology constantly changes throughout history, with new sets of ideas replacing old; ideology has always been that of ruling class, evolving as circumstances of material production change, and is used to manipulate the public by instilling their values
What does it mean for the proletarians to become class-conscious, and in what way does it benefit them? + Give an example from 'Bicycle Thieves' to explain your answer
- When the proletarians become aware of the oppressive system which they are part of, and how they are constantly being exploited by the bourgeoisie, as well as how communism could solve this issue, they become class-conscious - The proletarian must be class-conscious if they want to escape this oppression, as only then can they unify and revolt against the bourgeoisie and improve their conditions - Example: when Antonio steals a bike, the owner instructs the bystanders to release him, because he recognizes the harsh conditions Antonio experiences and feels pity, thus supporting his fellow proletarian When the proletarians are class-conscious, they are aware of their position in an oppressive system and their exploitation, as well as the collective power they possess and their potential to overthrow the system
Discuss Kant's 4th Principle according to which nature uses the antagonism among men to bring about the development of all of man's capacities
The fourth principle illustrates that through human tendencies such as antagonism, humans strive to achieve more. Human beings are naturally competitive - Man is seen to be functioning within society with selfishness and desire to be better than others, creating opposition. It is through his want for more that man will awaken his ability to achieve reason. Summary: competitive nature of humanity constantly encourages them to develop their faculties, in fear of falling behind or being of less value to society; inevitably the collective as a whole develops significantly, because all of its members are constantly competing to improve themselves
