Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Individual Resistance #1

Germany (1930) and Russia (1917) both rejected liberalism because the people of their countries were in such desperate need, they needed a quick solution.
Germany in 1923 was in ruins and the government stopped paying their debt. The economy was crashing and Hitler took advantage of the panicked economy.  All his promises sounded wonderful and he could take care of all Germanys problems at the time. So they took the easy way out instead of embracing liberalism which would make their economy stronger and more independent in the long run they turned to Hitler.
Like in Germany, Russia’s economy was in the middle of an industrial revolution. The economy was in a panic and when Lenin came into politics and gave many promises the economy jumped at whatever he said because it all sounded better then what was going on at their present time.
Liberalism was rejected because when the economy is crashing and people are in a panic they usually jump to the quickest solution and to anything that sounds more promising.


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Hamlets Delay

Hamlets Delay
By: Amber Copp
In the play Hamlet one of the main themes is revenge. Not only does it underlie almost every scene, but it also has a major effect on the story as a whole. The main revenge plot was Hamlet's aim to avenge his father by killing his uncle and king Claudius. This played a major role in presenting to the audience the theme of revenge.  Though the main question everyone was asking is why Hamlet didn’t sweep to revenge his father. In Act 1, scene 5 Hamlet meets the ghost of his father and after talking to him Hamlet gave us the impression he was going to revenge his father right way. But he didn’t and many people over the years have studied this play making theories on why he did this. A German writer by the name of Goethe came up with the theory that Hamlet had a pure moral nature but lacked the nerve that makes a hero.       
            In the theory it states that Hamlet wasn’t a strong enough person to act out the revenge required to him. In Act 2, scene2 of the play Hamlet says “But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his whole conceit.” Here Hamlets comes out and says he himself doesn’t think he is strong enough to avenge his father. Hamlet portrays himself as a child like character. He acted immature at this mother’s second wedding. Even though his father did just die and she was remarrying so quickly, most thirty year olds would not behave in the same matter hamlet did. This might contribute to the fact that he was not strong enough person because many child’s need to grow up in order to find their inner strengths. Also in the theory Goethe proposed that Hamlet had a pure moral nature which would explain why even when he had an opportunity he did not take action because it wasn’t “the right time”. In act 3, scene 3 Hamlet sees the king at praying, he gets a golden opportunity to avenge his father`s death. But he thinks that if he kills the murderer at his prayer, his soul would go to heaven, and abstain from action. He thus misses a golden opportunity because he does not want a wicked soul to enjoy the pleasure of heaven. So he wishes for some other occasion when the king is indulging in some evil deed to take action. This proves that Hamlets morals were more important than revenging his father.
            You could argue that Hamlet did not kill the king at that particular time because he cared about the king going to hell and he believed in his religion more than the fact that he was not strong enough to do so. In some of the other theories it talks about Hamlet delaying the revenge because of external obstacles but that does not explain why he didn’t kill the king in the chapel, there was no one and nothing there to stop him. Some also talk about the fact that Hamlet was meditated when he ought to have acted, but this does not explain his child like acts. So the theory made my Goethe was primary the best suitable one for Hamlet.
            There are many possible theories for why Hamlet delayed the revenge on his father, but if you take into consideration Hamlets acts and personality it was obvious that he was not a strong enough individual to complete such a tremendous task. You have to set aside what you believe is the right thing to do and find and strength in yourself to do something like this and Hamlet may have not had it in him. Therefore Hamlet lacked to nerve to become a hero because he let his pure moral nature take the best of him.
Bibliography
Quintessence of Dust-2004 Kenneth Chan
       http://homepage.mac.com/sapphirestudios/qod/excerpt.html

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

R#3




Ideologies
Similarities
Differences
Luddism
-Self interests, the government was not making any of the decisions
-Rights and freedoms- they wanted the right to work. They were fighting because they lost their jobs to machines and they were trying to get their jobs back by destroying the machines.

-they were having a violent revolution
-they were destroying the private property
Chartism
-Individual rights and freedoms, they were wanting the right to vote
-They were going against economic equality by wanting everything to be equal for everyone no matter how hard another man worked
Utopian Socialist
-Individual rights, individuals could realize their potential if they were free to pursue their own inclinations.
-They didn’t believe in self interest and economic freedom there ideologies were more socialist
Marxism
-Competition, between the proletariat and bourgeoisie 
-Economic Freedom through a free market economy
-Did not believe in private property
-Believed the society would eventually become socialist
Classical Conservatism
-Economic Freedom, if people choose to work hard they benefited themselves
-Did not believe in self interest
-But society held responsible for the well being of other which is a collective responsibility 
Welfare Capitalism
-Self interest
-Economic equality, government limited working hours and had a minimum wages, and a safety net with features like pensions and medical insurance
-promoted collective interest
Welfare State
-Economic equality, free market economy (supply and demand)
-Government had involvement in the economy
-People in society did not work themselves the worked for the benefit of each other
-everyone had equal opportunities

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Response To Hamlet

To Be a Murderer
By: Amber Copp
I did not want to be this
A murderer was not the plan I had
But what else could I do
I’m in a room full of traitors
My uncle or father you could say
He is sitting right next to my mother
A fine woman she is
But how could she be so blind to be with a man
Who is my father’s brother
Only a fool could be so blind
Revenge! I must fulfill my father’s will
That despicable man can’t be king
This poison and rot must go
But yet with all this will power I must be able
But I can’t, but I must, but will I?
To be or not to be that is still yet the question

R#1





Thinkers
Beliefs
How their idea’s were radical at the time
How their idea’s relate to classical liberalism 
Hobbes
-people are inherently selfish
-need a leviathan to ensure order and security
-ruler must be accountable
-people have the right to exercise reason
-people never had the opportunity to think for themselves this was new for many people
-self interest
-individual rights and freedoms

Locke
-social contract
-government should be directly accountable to the people
-power should rest within the people
-Monarchs didn’t like the idea of not being in full control
-private property
-individual rights
Montesquieu
-equality of individuals
-accountability  of government
-separation of power
-government has 3 branches of power-executive, legislative, and judicial
-called for elimination of the 3 estates structures of French society
-economic quality
Mill
-protection of individual rights and freedoms and the promotion of individual decision making of the core societal institutions
He used his idea’s to critic the people in higher power like the government
-economic freedom
-individual rights and freedoms
Ricardo
-prices should not correspond to the value to the product itself
-economy should be left up to the free market
Believed that the government/ monarchs shouldn’t be tampering with the taxes and the economic money.
-economic freedom
-competition
Smith
-increased the wealth of the state but not the wealth of the majority of the people within the state
-work for their owns self interest in a free market system
-supply and demand
-laissez-faire
The idea that the state would benefit more than the people
-self interest
Dickens
-individuals had the right to work and fend for themselves
-was against child labor
-wanted to get rid of the poor, middle, and rich classes
-people believed status was everything and his idea’s were shocking to many people
-economic freedom
-individual rights and freedoms
-self interest

Friday, December 17, 2010

R#2

Philosophers
Idea’s
How they relate and Promote Classical Liberalism
Adam Smith



-Individuals work for their own self interest in a free market system
-Free market would lead to a stronger economy and would therefore benefit most people in society
-Laissez-faire capitalism, the economic system associated with classical liberalism
Free Market Economy
Self Interest
Economic Freedom
Milton Freidman
-Idea’s based on Adam Smith’s
-Freedom of people to make their own decisions so long as they do not prevent anybody else from doing the something constant liberalism
Self Interest
Economic Freedom
Individual Rights and Freedoms
John Keynes
-Market system driven by supply and demand
-No government interference
-Individuals should be responsible for their own finical situation  
Individual Rights and Freedoms
Economic Freedoms