Estuary (City) - Marxism: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Details
1. The good: class struggle and alienation from labor
"In ancient times, the haves were the slave-owners and the have-nots the slaves. The interests of these two groups were entirely opposed. Any increase in the prosperity of the owner is at the expense of the slave and vice versa. It is a zero-sum relationship. So conflict is an unavoidable consequence. ... In Marx's analysis, this arrangement amounted to an 'alienation' of the slave from the fruits of his labor. Marx advocated the 'labour theory of value' in which the value of something is based on the labor used to produce it." (Frame, 283)
a) Do we measure economic value? (Scarcity, survival, aesthetics, labor or some sort of combo?)
b) Would you agree that alienation is a powerful phenomenological description? (Why, why not?)
Video: 'The Great British Class System, Explained' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWx2MhyFYyY
c) Why is class less discussed in our modern world than gender, race and religion?
2. The bad: dialetical materialism
"Marx was a determinist like Hegel, and he believed that the laws of being progressed in the form of a Hegelian dialetic. [movement between contrasting viewpoints] But he beleived that the ultimate causes of events were material, not mental. So he was a dialetical materialist. Further, in his view, those ultimate causes were economic." (Frame, 282)
a) 'Materialism is a deficient philosophical paradigm', why or why not?
b) How do we prevent our theories being overapplied? (Eg Marx thinking everything is economic.)
Optional Video 'Optimistic Nihilism' by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRqu0YOH14&t=1s
The ugly: revolutionary eschatology
"...Therefore the poor are driven to revolt. Again Marx anticipates that this will bring a radical change in the social order, a revolution. Marx believed that in this particular revolution the proletariat will be the winner. So society will be governed for a time by a 'dictatorship of the proletariat'." (Frame, 284)
a) Some revolutions are celebrated (eg the American Revolution), so why do so many turn out badly (eg the French Revolution)?
b) Is change possible without 'breaking a few eggs' and after one revolution what prevents a cylce of revolution and counter-revolution?
Bonus: cultural Marxism
"a really bigoted quack conspiracy theory wherein conservatives assert that there is a conspiracy where black people, lgbt people, leftists, immigrants, and anti-colonial advocates are seen as working together to instill Marxism under the pretense of multiculturalism." (Urban Dictionary, 2013)
Optional preperation movie: 'Land of the Blind' (2006) - Recommended with caution, some adult content.
A History of Western Philosophy and Theology by John M. Frame