Tag: political thought

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97)

Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759. She is sometimes called the Mother of Feminism. Her body of work largely is concerned with Women’s rights. In her 1791-92 book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, now considered a classic of feminist history and feminist theory, Wollstonecraft argued primarily for the rights of woman to be educated. Through education would come emancipation.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a participant in and observer of a significant range of social changes. Firstly, was the Enlightenment thought which regarded institutions as out-dated, and in need of review, along with changes in educational theory and domestic structure. Reason was of primary importance to the Enlightenment philosophers, a company to which Mary Wollstonecraft belongs.

Wollstonecraft wasn’t taken seriously by many people during her time because her ideas were so unique. Mary was a moral and political theorist as well as a women’s rights activist. She was a true French Revolution child, a new age of reason and benevolence. She wanted women to achieve a better life, not only for themselves but for their children and husbands too and to bring together what people already had and ‘ultimate perfection’. She argued that women’s education was “strictly training them to be incapable and frivolous” so they could only be wives and mothers, but she wanted to secure happiness for women and men so they could be looked at as equals. She wanted women to take a stand and fight for their educational rights, not to be weak and depend on men for their identity.

As aforementioned, she is sometimes called the Mother of Feminism. Her body of work is largely concerned with women’s rights. In her 1791-92 book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft argued primarily for the rights of woman to be educated. Through education would come emancipation. A keen and vital concern with education, especially the education of girls and women, runs throughout Mary Wollstonecraft’s writing and remains a dominant theme to the abrupt end of her career. The title of her first book, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, speaks for itself. Her single most important work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, begins as a plea for the equal education of women and includes an ambitious and farsighted proposal for a national school’s system. More directly, Wollstonecraft produced a book for children in the innovative, progressive mode of the day, edited an innovative reader specifically designed for the use of girls. Education was critically important to Wollstonecraft both as a liberal reformer and as a radical theorist and proponent of women’s rights.

Wollstonecraft accepts the definition of her time that women’s sphere is the home, but she does not isolate the home from public life as many others did and as many still do. For her, the public life and domestic life are not separate, but connected. The home is important to Wollstonecraft because it forms a foundation for the social life, the public life. The state, the public life, enhances and serves both individuals and the family. Men have duties in the family, too, and women have duties to the state.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist and political thinker, usually portrayed as the father of 20th century Communism. After a brief carrier as a teacher and journalist, Marx spent the rest of his life as an active revolutionary and writer, living mainly in London and supported mainly by his friend and life-long collaborator Friedrich Engels. From Marx’s perspective, human beings distinguished themselves from other animals based on their consciousness, autonomy, and ability to be productive members of a society, which give them a sense of purpose in life. Broadly, this is what Marx referred to as human nature, which he characterized as the essence of a person, or one’s ability to control their own destiny to a certain extent.

One of the most original contributions of the Marx is his Theory of Alienation. This is contained in his early work Economic and Political Manuscripts, which were written in 1843 but were discovered nearly fifty years after his death. These Manuscripts shows that ‘early Marx’, was mainly interested in the problem of alienation.

The concept of Alienation has increasingly occupied a forefront in sociological and philosophical interest. This is mainly due to the growing awareness and concern over the negative and unexpected consequences of rapid scientific and industrial progress in contemporary life. Marx’s theory of Alienation involves the relationship between workers in capitalist society and their productive activity or the act of labour itself. Workers do not confirm themselves in their work, they experience their work as misery, their physical and intellectual capacities are stunted, their work is not freely chosen and their work belongs to another. Yes, Marx’s conception of alienation illuminates some premises of the idea of emancipation. From his point of view, this social position discouraged the labourer from taking control of their own future or pursuing ways to climb the social ladder, which put increasing distance between individuals and their human nature.

For Marx, alienation is rooted in the historical situation and its consequences. In the Capitalist society, the creation of objects or production does not help man to realize himself, i.e. to realize his potential. This inability of man to realize his potential while being engaged in the creation of objects causes alienation. Hence, alienation will be overcome when the production of objects will lead to unfolding of the human potentialities. Alienation as exists in the capitalist society has many dimensions. However, three dimensions are fundamental.

Marx developed his theory of alienation to reveal the human activity that lies behind the seemingly impersonal forces dominating society. He aimed to show how, although aspects of the society we live in appear natural and independent of us, they are the results of past human actions. Marx believed that human action could shape a future world free from the contradictions of capitalism. For him, alienation was not rooted in the mind or in religion, as it was for his predecessors Hegel and Feuerbach. Instead Marx understood alienation as something rooted in the material world. Alienation meant loss of control, specifically the loss of control over labour.

Ram Mohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda

Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda are two of the most important thinkers of the Indian political thought. Their works have, for centuries, provided a foundation that helps to study the Indian society from two different perspectives. While Ram Mohan Roy was more of a modern thinker who believed that social reform is possible only by following the west, Swami Vivekananda on the other hand was a conservative who believed change must not be inflicted by others but rather should come from within.

Roy, who is often called ‘father of modern India’ and the inaugurator of enlightenment and liberal reforms, was critically against the ideal Hindu worship, evident in his major work ‘Tuhfat-ul Muwahhiddin’. He believed the traditional practices like purity and impurity, hardships, auspiciousness and in-auspiciousness, and beliefs to be corrupt and irrational as they deprived the people of comforts and lead them to self-destruction.

According to Roy, an ideal society would be the one where there is emancipation of people and this could be possible on when the monopoly of the orthodox Brahmins over the sacred texts were undermined. In other words, religious reformation was a pre-requisite for an ideal society as religious reforms also meant social reformation and political modernisation.

In terms of economic and political thought, Ram Mohan Roy’s attitude portrays ambivalence between liberal capitalists and feudal aristocratic values and also between colonial and post-colonial societies. Roy advocated for the liberating and growth promoting forces on the basis of which he supported the British rule in India. His economic ideas were mainly shaped due to measures like the permanent settlement of 1793 and the agency houses of private British trade with India. According to him the settlement was advantageous to the British rulers and the Indian landlords. Though he was also aware of the injustice the system bought to the ryots and peasants who were exploited by these zamindars, for whom he pleaded the British government to follow the standards of justice, he was nevertheless criticised for not giving due importance to these exploited classes.

In contrast Vivekananda valued the power and effectiveness of organization but was wary of its tyrannical rule. Moreover, he wanted change to come from below that is from the people themselves and not inflicted by enthusiasts who had little understandings of the problem concerned. He believed social reform could be extremely sensitive in nature and thus required careful handling. In terms of political thought, he believed social reforms would leave lasting effects only when founded on popular will and not when it was affected through state legislation. Therefore, he was also against the tyrannical rule of the British. Although he is believed to have supported injustices against women, he also provided progressive solutions for their upliftment. For this upliftment, he considered education to be an important tool which would ultimately create great personalities among women just as it had in the case of men.

The two thinkers have quite differing views. While one favored British rule and believed social reform will come about only with the help of modern education, the other opposed such a rule and believed it to be ineffective.

Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli was the first thinker to take an unequivocal stand in regard to the relationship between religion, morality and virtue on the one hand, and politics, on the other. A brief introduction is necessary to acquaint us with this highly debated person in all of political thinking.

Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1468 in a family that was traditionally seen as belonging to middle aristocracy. Machiavelli’s life became more relevant after the year 1498, when he, although barely 29, managed to secure an important job of chief of the second chancellery. He was one of the top policy-makers of the state. His famous work- The Prince was published in 1532. It explored the causes of the rise and fall of states and the factors for political success. It became a constant reference point and inspired different avenues in political research.

To comprehend the full importance of Machiavelli’s writings and their context, it is important to understand the series of political, social, cultural changes that began in the fourteenth century called the Renaissance. It signified a rebirth of the human spirit in the attainment of liberty, self-confidence and optimism. At the centre of the Renaissance was the emergence of the new human who was ambitious and relentless, he motivated by self-interest, and his aim was to seek glory and fame. Alongside the development of the modern individual was also the beginning of the modern state.

Machiavelli saw stable political authority and order as a basic criterion for social cohesion and moral regeneration. It was for this reason that he stressed the need for a unified polity. According to him, the individual was wicked, selfish and egoistic. He was fundamentally weak, ungrateful, fake, anxious to avoid danger and always greedy for gains. Thus, since the individual was lacking in honesty and justice, he was ready to act in a manner that was detrimental to the community.

Machiavelli’s state was a secular entity, with no relation to the church. It was independent and isolated, with no obligation to anything outside itself. A state was necessary, as it existed to fulfil the desire for security of person and property. His ideal was a republic.

Machiavelli’s attitude towards religion was thoroughly utilitarian. It was seen as a social force and did not have any spiritual connotation. As a social force, it played a pivotal role by inducing a kind of behaviour and conduct that was deemed necessary for the well-being of a society. Religion determined the social and ethical norms and values that governed human conduct and actions.

Machiavelli did not condone the use of immoral ways. To him, the end was important, which could be attained by any means. He contended that a ruler need not always adhere to conventional morality.  He was convinced that the use of violence although could be controlled, it cannot not be altogether eliminated. However, he recommended the cautious and judicious exercise of such violence, because otherwise it would create widespread distrust and hostility towards the government, which would result in instability.

Reference- A HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT: PLATO TO MARX. By SUBRATA MUKHERJEE & SUSHILA RAMASWAMY