Topic 1: Political Thinkers
The four texts for detailed study have been chosen to illustrate different liberal, conservative, Marxist and anarchist perspectives (see bibliography on page 33 for details of publishers). It is important that study of the various thinkers is informed by a historical understanding of the context in which they wrote. Within each text particular emphasis should be given to the key issues listed below.
John Stuart Mill
On Liberty
Mill’s ‘harm principle’ and his utilitarian approach
definition of ‘the appropriate region of human liberty’
defence of freedom of expression
proposed limits on freedom of opinion and action
importance of individuality
the role of “persons of genius”
liberty and progress
the limits of society’s authority over the individual.
Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France (extracts)
The importance of inheritance and the ‘pattern of nature’
criticisms of the French revolutionaries and abstract rights
definition of the ‘real rights of men’
the importance of prejudice
religion as the basis of civil society
definition of society as a contract
criticisms of democracy and majority rule.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
The Communist Manifesto
The class struggle and, especially, the class struggle in capitalist society
the bourgeois epoch and the progressive role of the bourgeoisie
the historical development of the proletariat and their inevitable victory over the bourgeoisie
the role of the Communist Party
abolition of private property; historical materialism
the proletarian revolution and the achievement of communism.
George Woodcock (ed.)
The Anarchist Reader
The nine prescribed extracts are:
Malatesta ‘Anarchy Defined’
Bakunin ‘The Illusion of Universal Suffrage’ and ‘Perils of the Marxist State’
Goldman ‘The Failure of the Russian Revolution’
Kropotkin ‘Anarchism and Violence’
Berkman ‘The Violence of the Lawful World’
Thoreau ‘Civil Disobedience’
Woodcock ‘Syndicalism Defined’
Tolstoy ‘Arranging our Lives’
Berkman ‘Lazy Men and Dirty Work’.
Key issues are:
definitions of anarchism
anarchist criticisms of liberal democracy and Marxism
anarchist approaches to revolution and protest
visions of an anarchist society.
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