Sunday, December 29, 2019

Stuart Mill and John Locke Conception of Freedom Essay

Introduction John Locke (1632-1704) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) are two important thinkers of liberty in modern political thought. They have revolutionized the idea of human freedom at their time and have influenced many political thinkers afterwards. Although their important book on human freedom, John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government (1689) and John Mill’s On Liberty (1859), are separated 170 years, some scholars thinks that they are belonging to the same conceptual tradition, English Liberalism. In this essay, I will elaborate John Locke and John Stuart Mill view on human freedom and try to find the difference between their concept of human freedom despite their similar liberal tradition background. Historical Context†¦show more content†¦Locke critisized this unequal distribution of possesions and ownership. He briefly summarizes this view by saying that: â€Å"...how any one should ever come to have a property in anything: I will not content myself to answer, that if it be difficult to make out property, upon a supposition that God gave the world to Adam, and his posterity in common, it is impossible that any man, but one universal monarch, should have any property upon a supposition, that God gave the world to Adam, and his heirs in succession, exclusive of all the rest of his posterity.† If people other than the feudal lords were capable of owning the land they worked, the Aristocracy would lose it means of control. Locke stated that â€Å"whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby make it his property.† The peasant deserve the land of his labor. Working a field is what made the field owned, not some privilege from Scripture. Mill lived from 1806 to 1873, the period of drastic social change and industrial revolution in England. Britain’s society mostly live in a town because of the industrialization. People are moving from the rural area to the big city. Social condition in Mill’s era was different from Locke’s era, because at Mill’s time the Aristocracy began to fall. At that time, England experienced big change because the traditional Aristocracy that ownShow MoreRelatedJohn Locke And John Stuart Mill s On Liberty Essay1748 Words   |  7 PagesPolitical philosophers over time have developed their own conceptions of liberty and the relationship of individuals to not only society, but also the state. Political philosophers such as, Aristotle and Plato have more of an ancient conception of liberty and the role the individual plays in society and to the state. Whereas, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill have developed a more modernized conception of liberty and the role of the individual to the state and society. Plato’s workRead MoreJohn Locke And John Stuart Mill s On Liberty Essay1200 Words   |  5 PagesPolitical Philosophers over time have developed their own conceptions of liberty and the relationship of individuals to not only society, but also the state. Political Philosophers such as, Aristotle and Plato have more of an ancient conception of liberty and the role the individual plays in society and to the state. Whereas, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill have developed a more modernized conception of liberty and the role of the individual to the state and society. Plato’s workRead MoreLocke vs Mill1618 Words   |  7 PagesLiberty and Freedom for as long as we can remember. Liberty and freedom has been a topic which has been debated for many decades. What does it mean to be free , and how far can we go to strive for freedom. These important questions have been answered and studied by two of the greatest English philosophers, John Locke and John Stuart Mill. Locke and Mill men will attempt to uncover the mysteries of Liberty and Freedom and unveil the importance of being free. This essay will look at John Locke’s principleRead MoreMoral Theories Of Human Rights1433 Words   |  6 Pagesthem being born human. Freedom, liberty, equality and independence are all important human rights represented in the philosophy of human rights. Key words Understand, Philosophy, Human rights, Reality, Moral theories Introduction The philosophy of human rights was coined by the philosophies of Emmanuel Kant, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill. These authors advocated for human rights in their philosophies. They brought in the aspect of political freedom, inequality and libertyRead MoreTo What Extent Does Modern Liberalism Depart from Classical Liberalism1624 Words   |  7 Pagesliberalisms by analysing approaches to the size of the state, democracy and the concept of freedom and aims to justify the argument that modern liberalism departs considerably from classical liberalism. Modern liberalism departs from the ideas of classical liberalism with regards to the concept of freedom, although the extent of difference is limited. Isiah Berlin first discussed the concept of freedom in an essay published in 1958. Berlin proposed two concepts of liberty; positive, which is supportedRead More2.1 The Birth Of Free Speech . It Is Difficult To Pinpoint1267 Words   |  6 Pagestime of ancient Greeks, freedom of speech has always been an indispensable condition of what it means to be a free person. The first known martyr to the principle of free speech was Socrates. In 399BC before his jury to city state of Athens he was tried for corruption the morals of Greek youth and he said that he would rather be convicted than suffer restrictions on his free speech. Free speech became more developed during the Enlightenment period by scholars such as John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, PierreRead MoreLiberal Ideas Of Equality And The Right Of Law1591 Words   |  7 Pagespersonal l iberty, equality and rule of law and property and the free market principle, drawing heavily from work by John Locke. Next, Locke’s work will be discussed to show how the development of liberal ideals from Thomas Hobbes. Lastly, substantive equality will be contrasted to explain how upper class interests are expressed and favoured in classical liberal thought. John Locke (cited in Ten 1986, p. 95) explained in Essays on the Law of Nature that while both humans and animals are creationsRead MoreWhat Have Theorists Meant by Liberty? Essay example1589 Words   |  7 Pagesdifferent definitions, from people like Machiavelli to more modern theorists like Mill. It is the fundamental value that allows people to make decisions for themselves in civilised society. Without liberty, people would live in a situation where every last detail of their lives is dictated to them by government or society. We would be devoid of having the right to make choices and decisions for ourselves. Freedom is a fundamental value in all societies, so great that the framers of the `DeclarationRead MoreConcept of Freedom in Political Theory1679 Words   |  7 PagesWhy is the concept of freedom so contested in political theory? (Word maximum: 1,500) Freedom is an important concept in Western politics, strongly entwined as it is with ideas of liberalism. Yet, as suggested by the question, the concept is one which is hotly debated. Indeed, political agents attempt to control the political agenda through promotion of their particular definition. This essay will look at the ways freedom has been defined by different theorists over the years. It will alsoRead MoreEssay on Government, Justice, and Human Rights3129 Words   |  13 Pagesexplores the relationship between justice and government, examining views on the subject expressed by traditional political philosophers such as Rousseau and Locke, as well as those expressed by contemporary political theorists such as John Rawls and Robert Nozick. According to Rawls, justice is one of the fundamental concerns of a governing body; Locke and Rousseau agree that government and justice are essentially connected. Nozick and Max Weber, however, claim that the essential characteristic of go vernment

Saturday, December 21, 2019

The Tempest as a Power Struggle Between the New and the...

To what extent do you agree that The Tempest is a power struggle between the old and the new world? Shakespeare’s Plays II Assignment 1 Rocà ­o Corral Garcà ­a 119042576 It is generally accepted that Shakespeare’s Play The Tempest is complex in many senses, but it cannot be denied that it is especially rich in terms of interpretation. A huge variety of critical analyses have been written about Shakespeare’s last play suggesting different possible approaches to it, such as human salvation, magic, colonisation and power. This essay will focus on the struggle between the old and the new world, which is one of the major themes in this play and that can be easily applied to politics and conspiracy in their more broad sense. Prospero is a†¦show more content†¦Prospero stands for the dominant part in his relationship with Caliban and his allusions to him are most the time is contemptuous. Prospero describes Caliban as: â€Å"Devil, a born devil on whose nature, Nurture can never stick† This description of Caliban is quite similar to those descriptions of the â€Å"savages† by Captain John Smith who set the first English settlement in Jamestown, or to those descriptions given by Mary Rowlandson later in the XVII century. These descriptions fit perfectly with Prospero’s concept of Caliban, so maybe Shakespeare’s intention here is to make a direct link between the current accounts of the colonisation process and the situation of the play. Again, this makes a clear instance that the play wants to portray the confrontation between the old and the new world. This clear struggle in the play between the new and the old world may be emphasized by political themes associated with Caliban’s conspiracy and Prospero’s colonialist control of the island. This essay will focus now on the political issue of the play. On the one hand, it may be clear that usurpation is the main political theme pervading the play. The possibility of usurpation is precisely what allows Prospero to legitimise and sustain his totalitarism on the island. Paradoxically, he was firstShow MoreRelatedAn Analysis of Power and Violence in Literature Essay1322 Words   |  6 PagesAn Analysis of Power and Violence in Literature Violence and power are both significant sources of conflict in the world we currently live in. Large animals exert their power over smaller ones through violence and through their consumption. In this example, we find the food chain. Humankind exerts their power through violence and power in a similar way, creating a hierarchy of power. Although not all violence is physical, it is still used to obtain control of another person or situation. 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Prosperos first majorRead More Shakespeare’s Powerful use of Characterization in The Tempest2457 Words   |  10 PagesShakespeare’s Powerful use of Characterization in The Tempest In The Tempest, Shakespeare investigates the process of creativity as well as the idea that knowledge is equivalent to power. The Bard draws on both Christian and Aristotelian philosophy to support the premise that morality and creativity are made possible only through the acquisition of knowledge. The characters of Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda each represent a different factor in the creative process: knowledge, creativity

Friday, December 13, 2019

Toy Story Free Essays

Name: Karl Dent Instructor: Morgen Thomas SP13: SOC 101 Date: Mar 19, 2013 â€Å"A Toy’s Story Observation† When you think about toys the first thing that comes to mind is the joy they gave when you were a kid growing up, and the smile they put on your kid’s face when you see them playing with them on a daily basis. What if toys could talk? What information would they give us? What would they tell us? Recently I set out on a quest to better understand what information I could get just by looking at the toys in my local neighborhood toy store and how they shape the mind of kids from a young age. Unfortunately for me, the day I went to the toy store there were not many people shopping, so this made my research a little harder to complete. We will write a custom essay sample on Toy Story or any similar topic only for you Order Now I wandered around the store for several hours, going through many different aisles and looking at many different toys. At times I felt like I was being watched; it was so quiet I could hear whispers as if the little action figures were giving me the information I needed. By looking at toys as a way of seeing things from a sociological stand point, I can understand why the manufacturers of toys make certain types and what goals they are trying to accomplish. By studying different toys, I started to use them as tools to see the world in a new way and to see how they shape society from both nature and nurture. My views of toys were like sociological imagination; I started to see how contextual our lives are. I then realized our individual identities were only sensible in a social context. But how can you look at toys and figure out how humans behave in our society? The only possible answer I found to my question was sociology. Toys help to form one important aspect of our lives which we come to understand as gender identity. By having toys specific to boys and girls it helps us to understand what it means to be male or female. Understanding gender identity is said to be one of the most important ways we develop who we are and where we belong in our society. With many of the toys I observed, I noticed they would have a specific age group on the box, which is known as the functional age symbol. This helps parents understand the expected developmental growth of their child, being able to compare it with the age of the kids on the toy boxes. There was a lot of cooking toys for girls, and a lot of police toys for boys, which illustrated to me gender inequality. These toys present the message that men are dominant and above women. By looking at the boxes they showed boys play an authority figure of catching bad guys and there weren’t any girl cops on any of the police toys that I saw. This led me to believe that they saw women as being weak and not able to go out and be a police officer in the community that they would eventually grow up and be a part of. There were also toys that sent the message that some men were over other men and some women where over other women. G. I. Joe toys are a way of showing boys what they should grow up to be, while a princess doll shows a girl that she is expected to be a pretty lady. This is the process of general socialization in our society. While this process starts at birth, it continues throughout our lives by way of the nurturing of kids through toys. Laser tag toys are more group oriented because they require more than one person to play. This then teaches group cohesion, this is where an individual would start learning how to work as a team while playing with other people. Looking at a play house princess set you can see how that particular toy prepares girls for the future role that society would proclaim them to have. Society expects our girls to grow up and be wives, the one who is always back at home taking care of the kids and the house and making dinner for the husband. The differences in toys between girls and boys also create gender inequality. It would lead you to think that girls will grow up doing just domestic jobs and that boys will grow up to be cops, soldiers, firefighters, etc. Gender inequality also creates a wage gap for women in our society because it puts male and female with the same potential on an unequal playing field. NBA toys are modeled after real people. They were of James, Bosh, Williams, Durant and Griffin which are all black male players. There were not any female basketball toys; this showed the separation of race, sex, color and gender, and how sports and athletes are seen in American society. By giving athletes the achieved status of celebrity and role model, it enables the toy company to create a new market of toys based on the person and not the sport. By not promoting female sports as much as male sports, we are sending a message that male sports are more dominant than female sports and males are more important than females when it comes to sports. There were not any white basketball toys and this was an appeal by the toy company to get whiter kids involve in basketball so they can be famous and one day own their own toy in a toy store. Separating gender by toys can also lead to other things such as stigma and sanction by family, friends and even teachers. A girl playing with a boy toy and doing boy things will be seen as a tom boy and a boy playing with a girl toy will be seen as s sissy. This can cause serious sanction by parents if they are around friends out in public and society will view this as being deviant because they are going against the norm of what is expected from them. Ranking boys above girls is a form of social inequality and relates to the structure of mobility because it brings about what is called social stratification. One set of toys that stood out were the Home Depot toys. They showed white males being builders and taking control of the development of buildings and handling tools. This was showing men as being engineers and future bosses and did not show where girls could do the same jobs as men in the future. By not giving girls the opportunity from a young age to do what they want, we continue to limit the ability of women in our society. Toys are a very important way for kids to develop. This is one of the many ways they learn to start sharing things with each other. Toys help kids to understand their roles and gender. Day-care, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten are very good places for kids to start their venture of learning. This is where individuals and groups get a chance to interact. In this setting, they have the ability to focus on the creation of their personal identity through playing with toys and others. Of particular interest is the relationship between individual action and group pressures. Having this opportunity to be away from their parents and spend time around other kids will help them nderstand what friendship is and learn the difference between boys and girls. We can expand military toys not only to boys but also to girls because women have proven to be just as productive in the military work forces as men. Allowing boys to play with dolls without being sanctioned is a good way of teaching them how to take care of a child and be more loving when they hit adulthood. Making NBA toys for both males and females is a way to promote the WNBA as much as we do for the men and to gain the interest in the sports for more women. Making white NBA toys will show our kids that white basketball players are as good as black. Teaching girls how to work in construction is not a bad thing because women can also be successful engineers and builders. Domestic jobs such as taking care of the kids should be taught to boys and not just girls. Giving girls more access to the things that are normally set aside for boys from an early age and allowing social mobility will allow them to move from one class to another. If we made these changes we could reduce gender inequality in our society between girls and boys. How to cite Toy Story, Essay examples