Philosophical 1 page

Many of you will have never had to produce a piece of philosophical writing before. Accordingly, I thought it might be helpful to walk you through what such a document is like. For this first assignment, you will be writing a short, pre-designed essay to summarize one of the main themes in this week’s reading. For some of you, the instructions for this task will be a bit frustrating, since there will be little room for you to give expression to your own voice as a writer. But bear with me just this once: future assignments will be much less restrictive, and you may learn more than you think from this exercise.

Instructions

Write a short essay that follows the structure below:

1. For your first sentence, write: One of the key themes of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto is the emergence and eventual supremacy of a new social class: the so-called “Proletariat.”
2. Begin your second sentence with: “According to Marx, the proletarians are”. Then finish the sentence by explaining in your own words (briefly!) who the proletarians are.
3. For your third sentence, write: Under capitalism, proletarians find themselves subordinated to another class: the bourgeoisie.
4. Begin your fourth sentence with: "As Marx characterizes them, the bourgeois are". Then finish the sentence by explaining who the bourgeois are.
5. In a sentence or two, explain why the bourgeoisie are able to subordinate the proletarians.
6. Now start a new paragraph by writing: According to Marx, however, the process of capitalist development brings proletarians together in cities, where they are increasingly made aware of the circumstances faced by other proletarians like them.
7. In your next two sentences, describe what Marx thinks will happen to the proletarians' views when they are concentrated together in the cities, and then say a bit about what kinds of political changes they will support at first.
8. Start a third paragraph by writing: In time, Marx thinks that capitalism will reach a point where further increases in productivity are not possible without decreasing profitability. When this happens, the economy will find itself in a recurring state of crisis.
9. In a sentence or two, explain what the proletarians will do when this happens.