Political Ideologies Prompts

Paper Prompt: 

Political Ideologies 

It is often said that our only constant is change. Things are always changing and in flux. This semester we have read two theorists of change. John Locke outlined a radical liberal vision of individual rights, rights of rebellion, and toleration that were perhaps most forcefully manifested in the American and French revolutions (momentous events that marked tremendous political and philosophical changes in the modern world). Edmund Burke warned against the dangers of rapid or radical change and advocated measured pragmatism while embracing the wisdom of tradition. 

In this essay, I’d like you to compare and contrast these two thinkers and their reflections on change. More specifically, how does John Locke’s vision of individual rights, toleration, rights of rebellion, and the right to appropriate nature with our labor square with Edmund Burke’s reaction to the revolutionary upheavals in 18th century France, his opinions on the American Revolution, his attitude towards tradition, common sense, and his wariness of philosophical systems? 

In your essays, be sure to show an understanding of John Locke’s liberalism and Edmund Burke’s conservatism. Where possible, distinguish their brand of liberalism and conservatism not only from each other but also from contemporary iterations of these paradigmatic political outlooks. 

 

Term Paper Prompt: 

Leftism has been dominated by shades of two theoretical tendencies: Marxism and Anarchism. Marxists and anarchists have been philosophical and political archenemies since the First International where Karl Marx and the Communists effectively alienated the Anarchist faction of the Workingmen’s Association. Anarchists were brutally suppressed in many so-called communist revolutions (most notably the October Revolution where Lenin dismissed libertarian leftists as “infantile”) and there are many historical and political grudges between them to this day. Despite their many differences, they share a common disdain for capitalism (and the state systems that reinforce it through the oppression of workers and the guarding of bourgeois interests) and advocate for its overthrow. 

In this essay, I would like you to do three things: 1) situate the Marxist and anarchist critique of within the wider critique of liberalism as a guiding “super structural” legitimation of capitalism. Identify where liberalism might be reconciled with anarchism and how anarchism might be seen as the proper inheritor of classical liberalism in an industrial and post-industrial age. 2) Analyze and contrast how Marxism and Anarchism share a devastating critique of capitalism and how they approach the question of revolution (and living revolutionarily) in light of this critique. 3) Compare how “anarchist” is Marxist theory and how “Marxist” are anarchist tendencies with respect to question of alienation and exploitation. 

In your essay, be sure to show an understanding of Karl Marx’s and James C. Scott’s writings as well as the Marxist and anarchist traditions. 

 

 

Option 2: 

Your choice (subject to my approval – minimum one paragraph proposal centering on at least one philosophical puzzle or guiding question is required). 

Books for reference:

Issac Kramnick (ed), The Portable Edmund Burke. 0140267603 James C. Scott, Two Cheers for Anarchism. 978-0691161037 John Locke, Second Treatise on Government. 978-0-915144-86-0 John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration. 978-0915145607 Karl Marx, Selected Writings. 9780872202184