Final exam Flashcards
Liberal core beliefs
- Man has both the ability to reason and innate dignity and that using these qualities leads to progress
- Humankind can use reason to eventually create a perfect (or near-perfect) society on Earth
- The Rule of Law protects the dignity of man and allows individual liberty to exist so that man can reason and allow his conscience to guide his actions
Conservatives core belief
- Mankind is fallen and does not improve when left to its own devices, but instead falls prey to instability, selfishness, and chaos
- A perfect society can never be created here on Earth, thus it is a foolish, and even dangerous, goal
- The Rule of the strong and wise is needed to lead mankind to a better future and to protect them from themselves
What do conservatives choose?
Reject intellectualism Religion Individualism Pride of country Reluctant to change
What do liberals/whigs choose?
Supported Enlightenment
Government is agent for change
Favor working men over owners
Protect minority rights
Charles Dickens
English author; attacked many social problems faced bt the poor of his day in his books (Oliver Twist- child orphanages, Hard times- evils of industrialization, bleak house- unhealthy London weather caused by industrialization)
Jeremy Bentham
British philosopher; developed Utilitarianism
Core principles of Utilitarianism
- all people are self interested
- Gov, that made decisions according to principles of Utilitarianism were democratic b/c they supported the ideas of the majority of the people.
- science and technology should be used to solve the problems of society
Calculus of felicity
a science based method for making utilitarian decisions; Intensity – how intense? Duration – how long? Certainty – how sure? Propinquity – how soon? Fecundity – how many more? Purity – how free from pain? Extent – how many people are affected?
5 drawbacks to utiliarianism
- assumes that science can actually determine what is of the most value
- provides no way to ensure that the leaders who decide what is of most value for the most people will act correctly
- ignores idea that what is good for most people might not always be the right/moral thing to do
- requires a high level of education of all people so that the people can make informed choices and not be swayed by those with money or easy access to media
- gives the majority of absolute control and often ignores individual cases
Thomas Malthus
believed the world would reach a point of crisis when the population surpassed the amount of resources.
Karl Marx
created communism, from Germany but kicked out for radical politics and went to England
Basic premises of the communist manifesto
- History of world is driven by class struggles
- One class always exploits others
- The Middle Class (bourgeoisie) triumphed over the upper class in the 18th Century Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution
- The Worker Class (proletariat) will triumph over the Middle Class (with revolution as the method)
Basis premises of Das Kapital
- The value of a product is the amount of labor to produce it.
- The fair wage for a worker is the value of his work (the value of the product).
- In capitalism, the owner must sell the product for more than the worker is paid (profit).
- The capitalist increases profits by increasing selling price and/or reducing wages.
- The lowest possible wage is the subsistence level and this is the level paid (because of a surplus of labor)
- Surplus labor is maintained by replacing workers with machines.
Problems with communism
- Ignores imagination and entrepreneurship
- Ignores technological improvements
- Attacks natural self-interest
- Leads to stagnation
- Ignores human education, experience, talents and work differences
- Assumes that capitalism/government policy will not adjust
Goals of communism
Put the means of production (ownership of the factories, etc.) in the hands of the workers so they won’t be exploited by owners
All own all in common
All contribute
A temporary central government oversees this transition from a capitalist society
Eventually a utopian-like brotherhood where all needs are met is established and the government dissolves
John Stuart Mill
the “Greatest Happiness Principle” which defines the usefulness of anything as that which produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Imperialism
Scientific expeditions Interest in other countries Industrial revolution A desire for captive markets Social Darwinism Belief that whites were superior to other races Motivators for empire Gold Glory God
Washington Irving
American folk tales; “legend of sleepy hollow”, “Rip van wrinkle”
Henry W. Longfellow
narrative poems; The songs of Hiawatha (indian)
Courtship of Miles Standish (puritans)
James Feminore Cooper
Defining the attributes of an american; archetype of the “American Hero”
Natty Bumppo, Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer
Herman Melville
Psychological thriller; Moby Dick- symbolic literature, any man and his quest to better his demons, and how it can be dangerous.
Edgar Allen Poe
Invented mystery and horror novel; dark poetry with morals,
The Raven; wife died in Baltimore
Cask of Amontillado
Pit and the pendulum
Mark Twain
Comedy + pathos
Showed the American spirit and the American frontier
Tom Sawyer
Huckleberry Finn
Walt Whitman
New form of poetry
Self-published
Song of Myself (From Leaves of Grass)
Collection of American poems
Transcendentalism
-Based on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant
-Began in America as a movement among Unitarians
-Nature is a source of joy
-Knowledge beyond the 5 senses
Intuitive truths
- intuitive truths are absolute and transcend empirical knowledge, and that the ability to trust one’s own insight is the secret to truth.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Defined American Transcendentalism
Nature
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
Self Reliance
Henry David Thoreau
Follower of Emerson
On Civil Disobedience
Basic laws of life transcend laws of the land
“The best government is the government that governs least”
Actually “governs not at all”
People are inherently good and their actions can be guided by conscience rather than laws
Refused to pay taxes in protest against slavery and the Mexican War
Jailed
Emily Dickinson
American poetess
Seclusion in Massachusetts
1700 poems, only 7 published during her lifetime
Theme: interaction between self and world
Theme: Mortality
Benjamin Franklin
invented: Bifocals
Odometer
Stove
Electricity defined
Eli Whitney
invented: Interchangeable parts
Robert Fulton
invented: Steam Boat
Cyrus McCormick
invented: Reaper
Samuel F. B. Morse
invented: Telegraph
Charles Goodyear
Rubber vulcanization
Elias Howe
sowing machine
Edwin Drake
Oil wells
Alexander Graham Bell
Telephone
Charles Darwin
proposed accident of birth gave animals genetic advantages. Science isn’t always operating how it’s supposed to (determinism)
Nihilism
the philosophical movement that questions whether anything is real or true
Friedrich Nietzsche
argued that mankind had moved beyond his need for God and that mankind should rely on animal passions and not intellectualism, as this gave undue power to the weak
basic premise of Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Scientists cannot truly be objective (as most claim) because they cannot escape their own various paradigms.
Who was the creator of the concept of the “League of Nations” to help avoid future problems following World War One?
Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States
The Marshall Plan
This plan gave loans and grants to the nations of western Europe following WWII so that their economies and infrastructures could be quickly rebuilt to avoid some of the problems that had occurred after WWI. What was the name of the plan?
Descartes
break down problem so it is easier to solve; understanding parts led to more questions; probabilities became important. (Reductionism)
Lavoisier
So many variables we cannot control them; Cause and effect- when something is observed in an exp in which all but one variable are controlled, the one changing variable must be the cause of the change.
Thomas Kuhn
Sciences cannot be objected. All live in paradigms. Shape what we think and say. (Objectivity)
impressionism
focused on light; the way light interacts with subject. Paint in the moment
Manet
Luncheon on the grass; caused drama because of naked casualness in painting
The Fifer
Monet
Water lilies, Japanese Bridge, Cathedral at Rouen
Renoir
Le Moulin de la Galette
Degas
Rehearsal of a Ballet on stage
Seurat (pointillism)
A Sunday on La Grand Jatte
Cezanne
View over Mont Sainte-Victoire
Vincent Van Gogh (expressionism)
Starry night, The night cafe, and sunflowers
Paul Gaugin
La Orana Maria
Henri Matisse (fauvism)
The Red Room
Edvard Munch
The Scream
Pablo picasso (cubism)
Three musicians, Guernica
