Problem Of Capitalism example essay topic

Thomas Hobbes "I was born in fear and remained in fear my whole life". Who is the best sort of person to lead us? Not important to Hobbes All People are competitive, full of fear, and full of pride. People are Selfish Invents concept for life without government STATE OF NATURE is when there is no governmental body to rule over the people Hobbes believes it is not good, people would not be happy. Business would not exist The purpose of government is to put truth in words. What is the basis of government?

Social contract- agreement of citizens to abide by laws and rules government creates. Natural laws are terms of social contract: Seek Peace, give up something (right to make own decisions), agree to keep promises, establish a rule maker called the sovereign, give him the power of enforcement Hobbes believes that the need for government is to protect us from our other fellow citizens. Rebelling against the government is a bad thing in Hobbes' eyes because it puts society closer to State of Nature. John Locke What is the purpose of government?

What would life be like in a state of nature? Human nature- everyone is selfish, everyone is born with rationality Locke believes that things wouldn't change much in state of nature, business would exist. We need government to solve basic economic problems, Social Contract- people give up 3 inalienable rights: Life, liberty, right to Property Government must promise to improve the common weale or improve peoples lives and to protect the inalienable rights of all citizens. Revolution is OK and sometimes mandatory if gov't breaks those two promises Best form of government: Democratically elected, 3 branches (executive, judicial and legislative) Government should stick to laws and not give each case a different solution Only problem is that gov't is inconsistent Karl Marx Dialectical Materialism, The Dialect- Hagel's law about history (Any event causes a counter event), Both events will destroy each other and a synthesis will come out. Philosophy of history: Why things happened? Essence of institution (What makes institution unique) EX: Catholic Church -'a Monarchy = Democracy Marx applied essence of institution to economics, All wars started from economics Marx believes we are the way we are because of economics (NO Human nature exists) Marx's views on capitalism: Capitalism and Democracy go together.

Economic class has nothing to do with income and solely to do with role in economic system Bourgeoisie- income comes from capital. Owner Proletariat- income is a salary, wages, an employee. Principles of capitalism: law of supply + Demand - value is determined by these 2 factors Law of Survival of the fittest: most efficient companies stay and others perish. DESTRUCTION OF CAPITALISM: 1. Over time there will be fewer bourgeoisie and more proletariat 2. Wages will decline to subsistence level (Just enough) 3.

People will feel alienated (dehumanized, like machines) and they will revolt 4. Bourgeoisie will revolt, but Proletariat will win 5. Capitalism exploits workers, Proletariat will revolt 6. They put plans into effect to stop problem, this will only delay problem making it worse Dictatorship of the proletariat- takes greed and selfishness out of people. Communism, What is the Problem of Capitalism?? Stalin thought problem was private ownership of capital which will lead to alienation and exploitation of worker- State Socialism.

He thinks gov't should own all capital " From each according to abilities, to each according to his needs " Jobs will be based on ability (Taken from Plato) Problem is that there is no incentive to work hard Trotsky believed that Stalin's communism was worse than capitalism He thought that capital should not be owned by anyone Employees should manage company, they will determine job placement, who gets job and salary All decisions decided Democratically by employees. Systems problem is geed, People would get selfish.