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 (3 short paragraph answers)
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 Answer Questions (1 page essay)
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 each should receive
according to need. Is either possible?
4)
Chomsky argues that social oppression is monstrous, while Foucault
argues that it is unfortunately all-too-human. Who do you support, and
why?
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
equality be mutually supportive, and how?
