POLS 041D Final Exam

Mill's Conflict between Liberty and Authority
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Mill's Conflict between Liberty and Authority
Rulers were established as a defense for citizens; But once there is centralized power, the State (Authority) can compromise the freedoms of an Individual (Liberty)
We need limited state power
Mill's two ways of limiting government power
1. Establishing certain individual rights the state cannot infringe upon
2. Constitutional Checks/Constraints, a system of checks and balances to decentralize governmental power
Mill's Tyranny of the Majority
People perceived democracy as "self-government", but it's not the case! The 'will of the people' is ACTUALLY the will of the majority
Mill's Two ways majorities can exercise their power
1. Political- Can pass discriminatory laws, minorities are forced to comply with the will of the majority
2. Social- Laws do not protect minorities from discrimination, society can limit the minorities' informal freedom through prejudices
Mill's The psychological origins of intolerance
Intolerance will always manifest itself in human communities; Humans have a tendency to impose their beliefs on others in order to reassure ourselves that our customs and rituals and our lives have meaning
Intolerance of other culture's ways of doing things comes from our assumption our customs are the right and natural way of doing things
Mill's Harm Principle
The only justification a State have for imposing restrictions on what people can or cannot do is if those actions can cause another person HARM
"The principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection"
Mill's Opinion of Speech
Mill does not think that being offended or psychologically injured does not count as 'Harm' under the harm principle because everything someone says is potentially harmful and offense is highly subjective
the ONLY exception: speech cannot be used to incite violence
Mill's justification of free expression (if the opinion of the minority is true)
Mill says the state cannot censor minority opinions because there is a chance the opinion could be true!
There is an intense pressure to conform to the majority's opinion but there is no way for humans to be 100% sure of anything so free speech is vital for a free society
Mill's illusion of infallibility
Most beliefs in society are passed down, and there is no way for a human's opinion to be infallible, because we are never 100% sure about anything
Throughout history, society's have had broad consensus about something thought to be fact it has turned out to be false (the earth is flat)
Mill's two kinds of censorship
1. Legal censorship - Laws passed to restrict people's freedom of expression
2. Informal censorship - people silence themselves and their minds are warped as people with different opinions are shunned or made to feel unwelcome in society for their beliefs
Mill's second justification for free expression if the opinion of the minority if falseEven if you are sure that a minority opinion is false, we need as a society the challenge to have a real understanding of our opinion and why it is true -subject your inherent dogmas to self-examination, there is a great deal of value to being exposed to false opinionsMill's role of virtueIf we actually want to use the free society to our advantage to become wise, the only way is to look closely and honestly consider all opinions and understand the fallacy and truths of these opinions -Much like Socrates' enlightenmentMill's justification of the Harm Principle: IndividualityThe state should not intervene with people's lives and liberty: Humans have the right to express themselves and choose their own morality; If people have their lives interfered with it prevents them from living autonomously The highest value in society is that the worth of each individual is given full opportunity to fulfill capacities and unfold talentsMill's justification of the Harm Principle: ErrorWhen the state/ public does interfere and tries to decide for society what is morally right it mostly gets it wrongMill's Paternalism and Legal MoralismLegal Moralism: making something illegal because the majority thinks is morally wrong Paternalism: Restricting an individual's liberty 'for their own good'Mill's notion of "Distinct and assignable Obligation""No person ought to be punished simply for being drunk, but a soldier or a policeman should be punished for being drunk on duty" If a person within in society have a certain obligation and their actions put others in harm, then the state CAN restrict those actionsMill's Applications: PoisonThe state cannot outright forbid the purchase of poison because they do more than just inflict harm; but since they can inflict harm there should be registration or SOME limits on how it is regulated by the stateMill's Applications: GamblingThe state cannot prohibit gambling/prostitution because there is consent among adults, but the state can prohibit brothels/casinos because it induces other people in harmful behaviorMill's Applications: Childbirthif you don't have the resources to care for the child it has impact on the child and society Not beyond the legislative scope of the state to restrict childbirth → can regulate because is affects societyMill's skepticism about big governmentMill thinks big government is not good because: 1. There are things the people can do better than if they were done by the state 2. Even if the government does things just as well or better than the people, the educational factor is very important 3. There is a great evil of adding unnecessarily to government powerMill's idea of libertyPeople ought to be free from interference because it allows people to unfold their capacitiesDevlin's criticism of the narrowness of Mill's harm principleMill's principle is very restrictive, only thinking there is harm in physical damage, but there are many other ways to harm people and societyDevlin's Immorality as Harm (The 90 and The 10)If the 90 within a society of 100 are acting virtuous and the 10 are acting immoral, it can cause harm to the rest of societyDevlin's truth about non-conformistsDevlin disagrees with Mill about that non-conformists in society cause no harm and are just innovators, Devlin says that the deviants of society who are non-conformists are doing it for no reason but to cause harmDevlins' Tangible Harmsimmoral/destructive behavior spreading and becoming costly to society example: Opioid AddictionDevlin's Intangible Harmsgradual erosion of shared moral standards If one who is against the moral standard in society, it can be harmful to society and there's no assurance someone will adopt this beliefDevlin's Morality as a 'web' of beliefstrying to change a shared sense of social norms within a 'web' of beliefs in society is dangerous because there are consequences if you start 'chipping away' and less moral actions for a web of belief in society, social norms can be disintegratedDevlin's notion of InfallibilityNot persuaded by Mill's argument of the wrongness of the majority, there are times when they are right and when they are wrong -If the majority is wrong, it is up to the minority to stand up and speak for reform and if the law truly is tyrannical, change will happen and the minority will succeedHirschmann's IPV as "interference and domination"IPV is an acute threat to individual liberty; Interference is the physical, sexual and property related assault usually men do to women, and the domination is the psychological torment of the person who is battered is constantly living in fear and live in expectation and dread that the violence is going to happen to them again- these feelings are extremely disabling to the women's feelings of individual libertyEnforcement FailuresIPV obviously disables the victim's sense of freedom, and it is the liberal State's job to protect people's freedoms, but they often fail to do this in cases of IPV. -Police consider domestic abuse a 'private affair' and often fail to arrest abusers -If laws are going to protect against IPV they need to impartially interpreted and enforced, and since so many police and judges still hold patriarchal ideals they are not enforced correctly. These ideologies become materials obstructions of freedomHirschmann's Idealized MasculinityIdeologies held in a patriarchal society can become a real obstacle to freedom Men are idealized to being assertive and dominant in order to be seen as attractive, women and supposed to be passive and docile, and these cultural scripts can enable IPV. If men are emotional, they channel it to violence and can become abusive, women are supposed to nurture and care for him emotionally and they take responsibility over his emotions which cause the women to blame herselfHirschmann's Internal BarriersInternalization of blame leads to beliefs that if a woman provoked the violence, she can change it with her behavior They are profound form of unfreedom, when you own understanding of your self of sense and purpose is warped to become passive and the women cannot even imagine life for themselves as a free individualHirschmann's Learned HopefulnessThe battered woman will repeatedly defend the man's actions, and will think that he can change during the honeymoond periods between abuseLearned HelplessnessThe woman internalization of blame/guilt from the abuse that it is somehow a product of her actionsHirschmann's Mandatory arrest lawsRequire police to arrest offender if there is a probable cause for abuseMarx, the Worker as a commodityA commodity: an object that is produced to satisfy human needs and sold and traded on the free market Workers only have a worth as long as they are useful, but they are replaceable and temporary so they become a commodity for capitalists to exploitMarx, Alienation and EstrangementCapitalism alienated the worker from their families, their relationships with other people, and their 'distinct human capacities' of talents and feelings, and the worker becomes estranged from natural human thoughts and feelings because they are constantly workingMarx, Estrangement of the Worker from the product of laborWhen a worker is working on an assembly line, the relationship between the man and the product is ruptured because he no longer owns what he produces, it is the factory owners -Example: The artisan shoemaker owns their work and is proud of it, a laborer is completely separated from itMarx, of the worker from the activity of productionMost of what we consume is factory-produced with poor working conditions with no space of creativity; (The labourer on a factory line is nothing like a master shoemaker who takes pride in every single step of the process) No ownership, pride, reflection of character Capitalism is supposed to be liberating, but Marx sees it as bondage as the worker does not feel connected to the process of his job, it is just a necessity in order for them to stay aliveMarx, of man from his 'species being'species being- human nature and human potentional to be creative and the power to consciously choose where to invest their work/energy Capitalism likes to say we are self-interested creatures, but we only are because of private property and the competition that comes with captialism, not inherentlyMarx, of man from manCapitalism results in class division; The owning class and the class struggling to get by the ownership class controls the means of productionMarx, Historical MaterialismIN order to understand history, we need to look at the means of production and the mode of production, the culture is shaped by who owned the land, means of production, how the goods are organized and exchangedMarx's UtopiaAchieved massive productivity gains that can meet human needs over, so we would need to divide labour equally among everyone, and by doing this people would have the opportunities to be who they want to be day by day and pursue their idealsMarx, History of Class struggleDivisions of class have to do economic struggle of ownership over means of production "Oppressor and oppressed" in opposition with each otherMarx, the bourgeoiseThe ownership class, the capitalist, and employers of labor and professionals that serve themMarx, the accomplishments of the bourgeoise-They destroyed feudal order and the vail of inequality - there was a massive increase in human productivity - the internationalization of the economy allows for a uniting of the proletariat class an important stage in the progression of history, but will lead to communist societyMarx, its utter newness in historyChange of who is rich and who isn't changes rapidly, society moves forward at great speed, which leads to financial crises and capitalist society is subject to uncertaintythe uniqueness of the proletariatThe working class is different from past exploited classes because Organized and concentrated unlike scattered surfs Constantly around one another, view each other as victims Open despotism is so obvious proletarians are written out of business system and do not stand to gain Can see through bullshit Possibility of global action because globalizationMarx, the abolition of private propertyEngles, The abolition of the stateThere has always been organized domination over the minority by the majority and once the proletariat sieze power, class conflict cans ease and everyone becomes a producer, state and politics as it always has been disappears and there is no state because everyone sees themselves as the same state and classEngles, the timing of the revolutionhumans have finally reached sufficient productive capacities to produce enough to meet everyones needs and communism needs this in order to workEngles, individual and collectiveHuman freedom → exercise control over economy and subject to rational and democratic decisions to unlock full human freedom If we can plan an economy and distribute based on needs → freedom Instead of being dominated by necessity and forced to work How to allocate jobs and production, control and collective freedom