Class Notes 4 You

 1. Marx's concept of 'alienation' is an essential part of the reality in capitalism. Explain. [200words, 15marks] [2021] 2. Comment on: J.S. Mill's idea on women suffrage.  [150words, 10marks] [2021] 3. Explain the Aristotelian view of politics. To what extent do you think it has contributed to the development of modern-day Constitutional democracies? [250words, 20marks] [2021] 4. Trace the evolution of Western Political Thought from ancient to contemporary period. [250words, 20marks] [2020] 5. Comment on Machiavelli's secularism. [150words, 10marks] [2020] 6. Discuss Karl Marx's concept of class. [200words, 15marks] [2020] 7. Explain Aristotle's critique of Plato's Idealism. [250words, 20marks] [2019] 8. According to Gramsci, 'hegemony is primarily based on the organisation of consent.' Comment. [250words, 20marks] [2019] 9. Critically examine Hannah Arendt's conceptual triad of labour, work and action. [250words, 20marks] [2019] 10. Com...

Intro: enjoys a rare designation of being a political philosopher in a male dominated discipline. She is regarded as a heterodox thinker in the sense that her political philosophy doesn’t belong to any systematic philosophy. Thus, it is often described as thinking without barriers. Inspired by: Aristotle Karl Jaspers Martin Heidegger Context : A German Jew during times of Hitler and hence had first hand experience of Hitler's totalitarianism. theme of work- the importance of politics and necessity of participation in politics- scholar of civic Republicanism. Her ideas: Describes her thinking as thinking without barriers Her method as phenomenology (experience rather than observation/logic) to understand things. she explains totalitarianism in her book- on origins of totalitarianism- Totalitarianism arises when public sphere is lost and state has total control. Use of terror + ideology +propaganda= totalitarian system Ideology more important than terror becoz ideology legitimizes th...

Gramsi- wrote his thoughts in "prison notebooks" Intro: Antonio Gramsci is widely celebrated as the most original political thinker in Western Marxism , second only to Marx himself. he is considered as father of Neo-Marxism. Context: a contemporary of Mussolini and wanted to find out Why Marxist predictions didn’t come true and why capitalism rather than collapsing further prospered. Neo-Marxism(inspired by Young Marx) wanted human emancipation in its truest sense and not just economic revolution. But to be truly emancipated you must come out of the mental hegemony of the capitalists. This mental hegemony is created through various institutions like the state, civil society, church. These form part of super structure and hence Gramsci has been called as the theoretician of superstructure. Influence- Benetton Croce.  Gramsci appreciated Croce’s skillful use of the scholarly journal and press “to saturate the intellectual life of Italy with a single point of view, a...

Marx Intro: Karl Marx is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. Inspired by- Hegel Ricardo Louis blanc Laws of dialectics. Gave dialectical idealism- ideas are the moving force behind historical processes. History moves in the from of dialectics of ideas to reach a stage of absolute idea in which all contradictions are resolved. Hegel developed three laws of dialectics: Unity of opposites- for every idea their is counter idea and they both exist together Negation of negation: the lower truth will be negated and higher truth will be left. Quantity changes into quality  Marx criticised Hegel: he is standing on his head. Labour theory of value by Ricardo that says  value  of a good is proportional to how much labor was required to produce it. talked about bringing socialism through revolutionary means His ideas- He criticised Adam smith due to his laissez faire theory in ...

J S Mill Intro: it is said that if anybody is liberal, it is Mill. Context: during 18th century industrial revo thinkers like Locke and Adam smith gave the idea to free people and market from central authority. But no one could give a comprehensive idea of liberty as freedom on oneself and from society like mill in his book on liberty. On reviving utilitarianism: Classical liberalism/utilitarianism  postulated utility as the core value of liberalism Mill was inspired from Alexis de Tocqueville in understanding the sociological limitations of utilitarianism that lacked in human values Bentham had perverted the idea of liberalism by establishing utilitarianism as the core philosophy of liberalism. It was majoritarian and went against the categorical imperative of Kant.   Utilitarianism resulted in exploitation of workers and increased socio economic inequality Thomas Carlyle described it as a “pig’s philosophy.” Mill revised it and placed liberty as core idea of liberalism. It i...

John Locke Intro: known as the “father of liberalism.” He has given theory of natural rights, government by consent and toleration. context: had witnessed the glorious revolution of 1688 wherein peaceful transfer of power from monarchy to parliament had taken place. His ideas: Robert Filmer In his first book ,Locke criticised Filmer’s patriarchy for giving divine rights theory which said state is created by god and king is the representative of god on earth and hence enjoys absolute authority. Filmer was against social contract theory. Locke replaced it with natural rights of man and said state is a creation of man and it should not be worshiped but help man in realizing a good life( concept of service state). gives theory of limited state, hence in contravention to Plato, Rousseau, Hobbes who give absolute powers to state. Says govt does not has original powers but only delegated powers unlike Hobbes, for Locke man has both reason and passion, but in a balanced state. Says ev...

Hobbes Intro: Thomas Hobbes is known as the first modern thinker in the history of western philosophy. He is the first one to give the complete theory of sovereignty. His work- Leviathan Context: He had seen anarchy during the puritan revolution of seventeenth century in Britain. Hence his core concern was the establishment of peace and order in the society. In medieval times, theory of two swords led to chaos. Emperor and pope as two poles of authority. Mac had separated church and state. Hobbes puts church under the state. His ideas- Belongs to social contract tradition wherein state is a result of social contract. Belongs to Positive school of law- state is the source of laws.  Adv of positive law: its source is certain it is definite it is enforceable Creates equality between men as it is given by the state does not believe in natural law that is law derived from reason but in positive law as for Hobbes man has reason only till the point he understands what is good or bad for h...