Social & Political Philosophy - Global Power       Discussion Page

Not to be silenced, let us add our thoughts to the threads below!

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If you're having trouble or want to suggestion a discussion question, send me an email: russellk@cortland.edu

What is War Cry's concept of violence? Explain it accurately and fairly in your own words. Then provide an argument for or against her perspective.

Classical liberals (Hobbes, Locke or Rousseau) believe that human nature will lead to inevitable conflict that can only be prevented by a state government. Explain why. (What are some of the sources of conflict for them?) Do you agree with their picture of human nature?

Post by Feb. 18, 5pm: On page 135 of IPP Wolff explains that Mill believes that as a principle, liberty is better than any other for creating a society that is just. Explain what Mill means by liberty according to Wolff and give one clear argument in defense of his belief that it should be our central social value.

Post before March 8 (International Women's Day!). Be sure to read the posts by students before class on March 19. Marx mentions 4 kinds of alienation:

1. From the product
2. From productive activity
3. From species - being (genuinely human qualities)
4. From other people

(a) Pick one of these kinds.
(b) Find a quote from Marx's "Alienation" that talks about that kind of alienation and copy it into your post.
(c) Explain how workers are alienated in that aspect of their lives.
(d) Give an example from your own life if you can. (Students are definitely alienated under capitalism: from their written work, for example; from their learning experiences; from their human capacities for intellectual development; and from teachers and other students!!). If you don't have one from your own student or working life, think of the paradigmatic capitalist worker - the "cog in the machine" of an assembly line at a factory - and give an example from what you think her (yes, her!) experience is.

Week of March 25: In her book On Marx, Wendy Lee argues that evaluations of capitalism that do not include a critique of heteropatriarchy are inadequate (78 and throughout the book). Explain one argument she makes for her position. Do you agree with her? Why or why not?

Week of April 1: Check out the links on my website on anarchism and the activist groups struggling for global justice. Read the article "Are you an anarchist?" at the Anti-Capitalist Convergence web site. (See the link on the course website or click here.) For your post this week answer that question! Are YOU an anarchist? Why or why not?

Week of April 8: Holt says ". . . [R]ace is the medium through which other fundamental conflicts in the social system are 'lived' and 'fought through' (112-3). What features of the post-Fordist global economy today are being worked by race? Do you agree with Holt's analysis, for example, that black cultural icons like Michael Jordan are serving the need of capital by becoming "means of consumption" (108)?

Week of April 24: This posting will help you prepare for your position paper on neoliberalism. Please observe the due date of this post: April 26. Please post replies by April 29. Thanks!

Pick a third world country and give specific examples (1 or 2) of particular neoliberal policies that have been implemented in that country. Explain why those policies fit under the political economic philosophy of neoliberalism, i.e., how would a neoliberal institution like the World Bank, etc. defend these policies? Finally, discuss and defend your own opinion of these policies. (Be honest; don't just say what you think I want to hear. Let's get some dialogue going!)

Week of April 29: In Naming the Enemy Amory Starr describes 15 social movements which she categorizes in three ways. Pick one of these 15 movements that you identify with the most. Explain its approach to globalization by showing why Starr categorizes it as she does, i.e., places it into I. Contestation and reform, II. Globalization from below, or III. Delinking. Defend your choice of this movement as an effective way to resist corporate power.