Introduction to Philosophy
Some scientists and philosophers, without some of the theories proposed by John Locke, the later developments by Marx would have been non-existent. According to the liberal view, the state has a minimal role in directing the society and economic affairs. Classical liberalism favors a minimal state that only provides basic societal needs such as enforcing contracts, defense, and protection of property. On the contrary, social liberals recognize even more roles of the state, especially in the economic front. For instance, according to these social liberals, the state regulates capitalism as a measure of consumer and employee protection. It also provides welfare programs to assist the disadvantaged population in the society and public services that are universally beneficial. According to liberalism, the state supports the society, and generally prevails in the political and social spheres. According to Locke, the state is only functional if it had the will of the citizens behind it and that a social contract between the state and the citizens exists. Additionally, the state was mandated to offer the citizens a number of natural rights such as those of liberty, property ownership and life. Locke believed that the citizens had the right to rebel if the state fails to meet their needs.
Marxism asserts that the state is an institution of capitalism. It further conceives that the state can be transformed to benefit the working class, since it is the sole institution capable of organizing and managing the national economy on a large scale. According to Marxism, the state owns the means of production in the phase of socialism. According to Marx, when the productive forces develop and authority on the state level is no longer required, the state becomes unnecessary, which leads to the disappearance of the state and social class. Marx refers to the society as communism, where the means of production are owned communally, but managed and operated by cooperatives (Marx 1978). Karl Marx asserted that there was a problem in the classes and the ruling elites, who controlled the state resources. Nevertheless, liberalism and Marxism are similar in that they seek for fairness to the main interest of the state; however, they differ in their methods and beliefs.
According to Marxism, liberalism slights the social nature of man. He asserts that liberty is the right to do everything that does not harm others it is a question of liberty of man regarded as an isolated monad, withdrawn into him (Marx 1978). He further explains that the right to own property implies the right to enjoy an individual’s fortunes and dispose of these properties at their will. He explains that these rights should be regardless of the other members of the society and independent of the society.
According to the opening scenes of the film Antz, the state is controlled by class and there is a distinction between the ruling colonies and the other citizens. Relationships and work are also controlled along these lines. The colonies control property ownership and the right to association. According to Plato, he views the interest of the state as related to the interests of the citizens. He also asserts that in the harmonious world, moral psychology, metaphysics, and political organization combine to ensure that those interests need never override individual mundane interests for they never conflict (Plato 370 BC). However, according to liberal democrats, the state heavily funds social programs and favors social engineering. According to these democrats, Plato’s idea is considered a conservative idea, which is against any form of social engineering. In my opinion, the Turkish government is responding with violence to the peaceful demonstrations since all the possible efforts to end the demonstrations have proved effortless. The negotiations that have been held between the government and several interest groups have not achieved any success.
Foucault's idea of discipline
According to Foucault, the development of discipline in the 18th and 19th century led to the emergence of prison as a form of punishment. He argues that the development of discipline created a new form of individuality for bodies (Foucault 2010), thereby enabling the performance of their duties within the new forms of political, political and military organization that emerge in the modern society. In my opinion, Foucault’s idea of discipline describes the way individuals are transformed into docile bodies that are willing to learn. Therefore, punishing people in order to instill discipline on them means that it has the technological power of transformation. Since he relates discipline in the present day society, forms of discipline can be found in modern institutions such as workplaces, military barracks, and schools to control behavior.
Panopticon is a prison building that Jeremy Bentham designed essentially to shine light on the prisoners and make them visible at all times. It had cells built around a central tower (Bentham 2001). These cells opened in the front so that the guards in the tower could see inside the cells. They also had windows in the rear view to provide backlight into the cells. Venetian blinds were used on the windows of the towers to prevent inmates from seeing inside the tower, while allowing the guards to have a clear view of the cells unwatched. The prisoners constantly obeyed the rules since they were not sure of when they were being watched or not, so they chose to stay out of trouble at all times.
According to Foucault, constant supervision and forced discipline interfered with the will of the criminals and transformed them into teachable bodies that could easily be controlled by the people in authority. In his opinion, Foucault explains that since the surveillance systems adopted in the modern societies, where assessment no longer requires the use of force or violence on the individuals, they learn self-discipline and behave in the way they are expected by those in authority without having to be driven with force.
In the modern institutions, people obey the authority and the people in power. The people in authority have put up strategies that ensure that people’s conducts are controlled in a manner that they do not feel the authority over them. Assessment mechanisms and motivation used in the modern institutions increase workforce development and obedience. The machine-like quality of running of the modern society is consistent with Plato’s idea in the sense that both systems support the independence if individuals and supports the fact that every person can perform best when controlled within certain specified deadlines. According to Foucault, there is a possibility of resistance to power regardless of how oppressive the systems could be.
Technology
The current production methods in the world’s economy have embraced the use of technology. Technological advancements have in the recent world been implemented in order to ensure that production is maximized at the minimal expenses. Nevertheless, technology has created anxiety and fear among the working population since most of the workforce are being replaced by the new technologies. Jobs that were performed by a large number of employees have been taken over by technology thereby rendering many people jobless. Additionally, technological advancements also come with challenges that might render some employees irrelevant.
The utopian visions
Oscar Wilde said that any map that does not have utopia on it is not worth looking at (Geoghegan 1987). Over the past years, philosophers envisioned societies governed by the perfect set of systems that enabled citizens peaceful and long lives. A utopia can be defined as an ideal society that does not exist anywhere, but could possibly exist. According to Marx and Engels, the vision of the future is constructed primarily out of hopes, institutions and wishes, whether envisioned by an individual or taken from the writings of other utopian thinkers, or some combination of the two (Marx 1978). Marx asserts that the utopian thinking gives visions of the future that are unrealistically rigid and complete. In my opinion, I concur with Marx that the visions are unrealistic and unachievable.
The dystopian vision
In the mid 20th century, authors envisioned futuristic societies where individuals lived repressively and controlled state that only from the outside resemble a utopia. These visions represent the concepts of individuality, class distinction, individuality, repression, advance technology and religion. In my opinion, these visions have proved realistic. The documentary, Green: Death of a Forest reveal a contemporary revealed by modern technology in the sense that the emergence of new industrial technology leads to the depletion of natural environments such as forests. Additionally, consumerism leads to increased production, thereby depleting the natural world.
I disagree with Kant’s assertion that non-human beings do not deserve moral consideration (Kant 1978) since human beings depend on the existence of these non-human beings for their normal operations. Most of the non-human beings are the basic necessities for human development and existence. There is a moral obligation to protect the environment since environmental components help the human beings to enjoy their lives. For instance, human beings use the animals in the natural environment for food and trees for construction and medicinal purposes, therefore, if the environment is not protected, human beings would also suffer.
