March 2012
4 posts
Criticisms
The criticisms I find the strongest are those against the idea of current public services such as the police and the legal system become privately funded.
These are:
The Argument that the state is necessary as a neutral umpire as any privatised system may be biased and corrupt. If people were to fund a legal system this would lead to laws and regulations in favour of those who fund them. For...
Anarcho-capitalism
Freedom
In contrast to the other viewpoints, Rothbard believes that man should be free to ‘think, feel, evaluate and act only as individuals’ rather than as a community. He claims that the value of humans is in their individuality and therefore all personalities should be free in order for ‘full development’. However, they do agree that everyone must be free from...
Anarcho-communism
Freedom
Emma Goldman believes that freedom is the opposite to the current capitalist system as she states that it is ‘where man is free to choose the mode of work, the conditions of work and the freedom to work’. I.E. a person sould be free to do the job in which he finds most ‘joy’ as then everyone will be fully commited to the work they are undertaking and so the system...
Marxism
Freedom
Marx claims that current freedom is beased purely upon free trade, which is used by the bourgeosie to exploit the proletariat by presenting it as ‘religious’ or ‘political’. As an alternative, he believes that people noone should work as an individual without the considerations of society but should be able to focus his life in any area he desires ‘nobody has...
December 2011
1 post
Behaviourist Viewpoint :)
The Argument.
Behaviourists (like Watson and Skinner) would disagree with the idea of the existence of a mind or even mental states- claiming that these are simply the behaviours we emit at a given time. For example, when people would say ‘Bob is happy’ behaviourists would claim that this is not in reference to any mental or internal states of Bob, but instead the behaviours Bob is...
November 2011
1 post
Cartesian Dualism
What is it??
In Descartes Principles of Philosophy, he argues that some things have substance as they are ‘self-subsisting’, and so depend only on themselves or a God to exist. These substances are only the mind (whose principle attribute of thought) and body (whose principle attribute of body).
Therefore, there are two types of substances, physical and mental (substance...
October 2011
3 posts
Is this even relevant??
I think that many of these issues are still relevant today- especially in the stricter regimes of the middle east and asia. As well as this, people are still very certain on their viewpoints and their religions in this society, perhaps not in the same way as in Mill’s time, but many remain arrogant in their views and hold them without any rational behind them- often as they are opinions...
My thoughts...
In theory, I agree with most of Mill’s views for freedom of thought and action. It is certainly true that we should not always pressume that our views are correct and it can certianly be stilting to society if we were to remain ignorant to other religions and viewpoints- for example if the BNP were to gain power, all view points and actions would be extremely limiting and would lead to more...
What is Mill on about??
Mill primarily believed that both freedom of expression and freedom of action is important as it encourages eccentricity and individuality which will cause people to have greater rational thought and so in turn improve society. To explain this importance of being open to others views and other actions he outlined four arguments:
Infallibility argument- this argues that it is important to listen...
September 2011
1 post
Why am I doing Philosophy??
1. I decided to continue with A2 Philosophy after it quickly became my favourite subject at AS. I really enjoy the way that you can explore and express your views on deep questions.
2. I’m enjoying the course so far this year- Mill’s theory is really interesting and links well to matters today. The only thing that still seems daunting is the longer, more in depth exam essays.
3. So...
