Politicaleconomic arguments of worldly philosophers

Political/economic arguments of worldly philosophers:

Introduction:

There are several worldly philosophers who are known for their economic or political arguments. Some of these include Adam Smith, Joseph Schumpeter, Ayn Rand, Thorstein Veblen, José Ortega y Gasset and Karl Marx among others. Political science is one of the widest disciplines in the social sciences. It incorporates views, suggestions and or criticisms of ideas from many disciplines.

Abstract:

The Lenin-Hobson Theory of Imperialism is a theory which expresses imperialism, regional conflicts and world wars as being caused by international imbalances in income divisions in developed countries. Since workers from the developed countries receive so little from the income share such that they are unable to buy products from their industries, the imperialist powers struggle for division of the finite resources of the earth leading to world wars and eventually revolution for losers and profits for winners (Light 281). On the other hand Marxism was trying to find a way of avoiding all these chaos through a more just mode o production through Marxist ideas

This paper seeks to compare the views and or ideas of some of the worldly philosophers. In doing so we shall be applying the analytical tools of a subfield of political science referred to as comparative politics. Comparative politics according to many scholars is more methodological than substantive. Although it is a subfield of political science comparative politics, tries to gauge the value and method of analysis of different fields of political science. On the wider field political science is a science just like many other disciplines. Unlike many other disciplines political science concerns itself with the study of politics and political systems as well as political behavior.

According to early writers like Hobbes politics is just the real analysis of who gets what when and how. Regardless of this fact political science has many subfields. These subfields include political theory; international relations and public policy. Although comparative politics is a subfield of political science, it is unique since it deals with the comparison of different theories and assumptions related to different sub disciplines of political science.

Analysis:

The views of these philosophers are very different. As we have seen above some of them are more self-centered while others are more collectivist in nature. Marx’s ideas and thoughts gave rise to contemporary communism. In a particular reference to his magnum opus, the communist manifesto Marx said that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. In saying so Marx had observed that the division of the classes into different classes was the main human problem and that is why he always coined that the oppressed will always try to rise against their oppressors. According to Marx capitalism had inherent internally destructive tensions. Looking at the world today we shall seem to agree with Marx. For example the current healthcare reforms that the Obama administration has brought about major divisions within the society. This is due to the fact that people don’t want their investments in their healthcare to be in any way controlled or guided by the government (self-interest) yet when the global financial crisis came calling they all wanted government help to avoid loses. This is what Karl Marx was afraid of when he advocated for Marxist ideas. The communism that Marx advocated for was not a degenerative form instead Marx wanted a form of socialism that would protect all members of the society while at the same time ensuring some form of responsibility. This according to Marx would have been achieved with aristocratic authoritarian leaders who had visions for their countries.

To assert this it is important to note that many of the newly industrialized countries in the world notably the Asian tigers entered the path to industrialization through a more communism lining economy under the leadership of authoritarian aristocratic leaders.

Some of the current authorities in political theory have been indirectly in support of Marxist ideas. For example John Bordley Rawls. he was an American philosopher, born in 1921 and died in 2002. He was regarded as a leading scholar in the fields of political philosophy and morals. His greatest publication was a theory of justice, published in 1971. In this book he argues that “the most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position (Rawls, 1971). He is mostly known for his theory of justice of fairness. This theory has been widely borrowed by economists, sociologists as well as other scholars in different fields. Drawing ideas from the original position and the veil of ignorance Rawls tries to demonstrate how distributive justice can be arrived at. This theory develops certain principles of justice that govern a modern social order. This theory provides a framework that explains the importance of equal opportunity that benefits the more and less advantaged members of the society. This was what Marx was referring to in seeking a communist society.

Marx’s ideas were also borrowed from classical political economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo. In so doing Marx believed that a revolution of the working class would be the beginning of an end to the dominance of capitalism. Thus labor and workers would lead in this journey. The ideas of Adam smith are mostly borrowed from the theory of moral sentiments, since the other major work of Adam smith, ‘an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations’ is more individualistic (capitalistic) than the former. Marx’s criticisms of some of the works of Smith have been reinforced by other political economists like Joseph Schumpeter. In support of Marxism, Schumpeter observed that in reference to smith:

“His very limitation made for success. Had he been more brilliant, he would not have been taken so seriously. Had he dug more deeply, had he unearthed more recondite truth, had he used more difficult and ingenious methods, he would not have been understood. But he had no such ambitions; in fact he disliked whatever went beyond plain common sense. He never moved above the heads of even the dullest readers. He led them on gently, encouraging them by trivialities and homely observations, making them feel comfortable all along.”

(History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press, p 185)

Conclusion:

Marxist ideas have been seen to have been more broad than narrow. Che Guevara observed that “The merit of Marx is that he suddenly produces a qualitative change in the history of social thought. He interprets history, understands it’s dynamic, predicts the future, but in addition to predicting it, he expresses a revolutionary concept: the world must not only be interpreted, it must be transformed.

Just like Rawls in contemporary times Marx tried to bring morality and compassion in the creation and distribution of resources and wealth. His works have had a very big impact in the study of social justice issues.

Reference list:

Baggins Brian “Karl Marx Critique of the Gotha Program” Marx/Engels Selected Works, 3.3 (1875) 13-30

Baird, Forrest E. and Walter Kaufmann From Plato to Derrida, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008

Dorfman, Joseph Thorstein Veblen and His America Harvard, Harvard University Press, 1934

GassetJosé Ortega y The revolt of the masses: Authorised translation from the Spanish, Y, New American Library, 1950

Gasset Jose Ortega Y. philosophical ideas 25 Feb 2004 22 Dec 2009 < HYPERLINK “http://www.philosophyprofessor.com/philosophers/jose-ortega-y-gasset.php” http://www.philosophyprofessor.com/philosophers/jose-ortega-y-gasset.php>

Heilbroner Robert L. The worldly philosophers: the lives, times, and ideas of the great economic thinkers; A Touchstone book Y, Simon and Schuster publishers, 1980

Hoaas, David J. and Madigan, Lauren J. “A citation analysis of economists in principles of economics textbooks” The Social Science Journal 36.3 (1999) 525–532

Light Ivan “The Lenin-Hobson Theory of Imperialism” A Didactic Drama in Five Acts 14.4 (1986): 281-286

Miller Arthur The price: a play, Michigan, Secker & Warburg publishers, 1968

Notes for the Study of the Ideology of the Cuban Revolution” by Che Guevara, October 8 1960. available at: HYPERLINK “http://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/1960/10/08.htm” http://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/1960/10/08.htm

Pressman Steven Fifty Major Economists NY, Routledge publishers, 1999

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971

Schumpeter, Joseph. History of economic analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.