Hegel & Revolution
Teen
during French Revolution, reason as revolution, Marx inverting theism
to materialism, historical process & explanations, dialectic as back
& forth, positive-negative-synthesis, dogmatism vs. skepticism,
understanding vs. reason, history as Orientals-Greeks-Germans/Europeans,
master/slave dialectic, judgment as one-sided acid, oppositions as
everything, being is non-being as becoming, freedom is necessity as one,
Marx points to final stage of workers vs. owners, business class as
latest stage, reason as critique of Rousseau’s romantic will
Socialism
Along
with Capitalism and industrialization comes problems, inequality &
criticism, equality vs. freedom, social use vs. individual interest,
redistribution of wealth, social welfare, planned vs. free economies,
most are mixed economies, gradual vs. radical revolution, democratic vs.
tyrannical businesses, unions, co-ops, communes, Mazdak the
Zoroastrian/Socialist, Saint-Simon’s Socialisme & meritocracy with
“thieves” removed from above and below, co-operation vs. competition as
productive, hand of greed vs. invisible hand, voting for workers,
Marcuse the “father of the new left”, Frankfurt School & Critical
Theory, attack on positivism, critique of corporate capitalism,
consumerism & marketing, criticism of communism, compared both to
fascism, One Dimensional Man, consumer’s fear of revolution, the
Establishment, revolutionizing the “obscene”
Communism
Radical
socialism & nationalization, capitalism as anarchism, the new
French Revolution vs. the capitalists, Saint-Simon’s “each according to
contribution” eventually “each according to need”, assumes surplus
allows for this, imposing dictatorship evolving toward democracy, Lenin
vs. Trotsky’s theory of continuous revolution, problem with failure of
reluctant dictatorship, post-Marxists, problem of top-down and bottom-up
viewpoints, internationalism, Communist Manifesto, all history is class
struggle, problem of the necessary but revolutionary middle class,
modern individuality made impossible, abolition of the family &
nationality, Lenin & vanguard party dictatorship, Stalin’s socialism
in one country, Gramsci & society as more complex than workers vs.
owners, hegemony & hegemonic discourse, “counter-revolutionary” as
mask of complex problems, Mao & paying attention to farmers vs.
industrial city, Zizek and new struggle of first vs. third world
Anarchism
Radical
bottom-up vs. previous top-down systems, feasibility of anarchy given
technological society, government and power as inherently abusive,
problem of central vs. decentralized power (private armies), Proudhon
first to call himself an anarchist, “property is theft”, “anarchy is
order”, anarchy symbol, free association of co-ops & communes, no
need for nationalization, possession through mutual & voluntary use,
Bakunin & break with Marx, the propaganda of the deed, criticism of
communist dictatorship as self-perpetuating like fascism, Spanish Civil
War, Franco, fascist & capitalist support, Squatter’s rights, Free
Love & Women’s rights, Emma Goldman, Chomsky vs. Foucault,
oppression as monstrous vs. all too human, true human nature vs. fluid
human nature, Chomsky argues authority must continuously justify its
existence, Foucault argues that institutions create binary dichotomies
to maintain power, knowledge always serves power, criticism of
psychiatry
Fascism
Fasces
as bundle of sticks with ax, fascism as industrialization, nationalism
& traditionalism, left & right wing elements, religious &
anti-religious elements, anti-communism & anti-anarchism triangle,
Mussolini in Italy, hoped for African empire, great depression and
rising tides of communism, paramilitary resistance protecting family,
religion & nationalism, vicious pacification of Africa, blaming own
people in failure, Hitler in Germany, scientific legitimacy, Western
ideal origins of Athens, Sparta & Rome, Heidegger and use of
Nietzsche & existentialism hoping for radical new beginning,
anti-technology & anti-modernity, romantic phenomenology vs.
Husserl’s psychological phenomenology, intentionality, thrownness,
technology boxing up the miraculous, with and against the “them” as an
“I”, every revealing is a concealing, time as horizon of being, all
thought as denial of death & meaninglessness, freedom is
transparency of becoming, Heidegger as Nazi Trotsky, Hitler’s Beer Hall
Putsch, antisemetic view of both capitalism & communism,
social-Darwinism even in local Nazi leadership, Reichstag Fire &
emergency powers, “job creation” through anti-Semitism, admiration of
UK & US
Postcolonialism
Islam
as last contiguous empire & height of civilization, Europe gets
wealth & gains colonial empire, today we live in post-colonial
empire, Fanon as existentialist & Marxist, fighting for French &
bleaching of his unit, colonialism destructive to oppressed body &
mind, debate with Sartre over independence of the black community, gaze
of the other as marginalization, interiorized racism, racism as key to
class struggle, getting beyond Manichean categorical dualisms of
black/white & irrational/rational, some revolutions (US) violence is
justified, Said argues Orientalism is how “West” views the
Other/Orient, argues against the “Clash of Civilizations”
Feminism
Myths
vs. Realities of gender difference, seeking power through isolation vs.
socialization, women as conscious of being watched, potential
objectification, early civilization & growth of size as source of
sexism, cultures offer women’s rights yet maintain oppression, 66% of
work & 1% of property, first wave & Susan B. Anthony voting
rights & consensual sex, second wave 60s anti-establishment, Simon
de Beauvoir argues women Hegelian Other w/ master/slave dialectic,
Friedan argues women need individual identity beyond the home, third
wave criticisms, bell hooks criticism of white upper/middle class
college movement marginalizing racism & poverty, Judith Butler
argues gender is a social construct, gender as performance, issue of
display of women’s sexuality as oppressive or liberating
Short Answer Concepts
Problem of Equality vs. Freedom, Problem of Cooperation vs. Competition,
Problem of Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Viewpoints, Problem of the Middle Class,
Problem of Gradual vs. Radical Revolution, Gramsci’s Cultural Hegemony,
Trotsky’s Continuous Revolution, Foucault/Fanon’s Binary Dichotomies Supporting Power,
Fanon’s Institutionalized/Internalized Racism, bell hooks’ Criticism of Second Wave Feminism
Short Essay Topics
1) Hegel and Marx each argued that history is reaching its final form.
Is this true?
2) Saint-Simon argues that
technology allows for social revolution, while Marcuse argues that it has made
the consumer afraid of social revolution. Do technology and
industrialization enable revolution and democracy or hold it back?
3) Saint-Simon argued that
society should give to each according to contribution, while Marx & Engels
argue that eventually each should receive according to need. Is either
possible? Which works best?
4) Chomsky argues that
social oppression is monstrous, while Foucault argues that it is unfortunately
all-too-human. Who do you support, and what does this mean for social
change?
5) Heidegger argues that
transparency is authenticity. What does his involvement with the Nazi
regime say about his philosophy?
6) Against his friend
Sartre, Fanon argues that the black community must maintain its own independent
identity. Can cultural identity and universal equality be mutually
supportive, and how?
