Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

competition, and free trade is just one more step in the necessary evolution of human history, having profound repercussions. Thus, capitalism, free trade, and free competition remade the world in a very short span of time, creating a new society and culture, controlled economically and politically by the human instruments of capitalism. Marx and Engels believed that free trade, free competition, and limitless greed of the capitalist create the epidemic of over production and not enough buyers for the products. The capitalistic failure to control the growth of its modes of production has the unintended effect of creating a new class of citizens who will ultimately spell capitalism’s downfall. The new class of citizen’s is known as proletariat, which is defined as a class of people lacking resources and the means of production sell their labor. Marx and Engels believed that in difficult economic times, workers often direct their anger toward imported products that threaten their economic well-being. It is typically blue collar workers who are most vocal in their support of trade and barriers to protect their livelihood. Marx and Engels vision of the future was more accurate with their vision of the next developmental stage which involves several of the following factors: • The proletariat increase in number, become concentrated in greater masses, and grow in strength. • The work of the proletariat becomes more mindless, their wages lower, and their economic stability less secure. • Sensing their strength, the proletariats organize into unions. • Improved communication and transportation systems enable the proletariat to organize themselves in ever-widening circles of membership. Rather than eroding, the economic and social status of the proletariat has often risen, powered by the strength of their unions and democratic political systems within which they exist. In addition, liberal economies have also intervened to improve the lives of the workers and more disadvantaged members of society through the creation of public education, economic opportunities, avenues of social advancement, the protection of workers through government legislation, and the creation of welfare safety nets to ensure a minimum standard of living and healthcare. Marxism, as articulated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is a social economic, and political system based on socialist ideal of “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” If liberalism privileges the rights and freedoms of the individual, socialism (and communism) emphasizes the duty of a society to maintain as a preeminent value what is best for all of its citizens. Mill: Justice is what Promotes the General Welfare Mill explored the utilitarian perspective on ethics in which he believed we determine moral rightness or goodness by calculating which course of action will bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people (and conversely, which course of action will result in the avoidance of unhappiness for the greatest number of people). Mill’s views on social justice and liberty are based directly on his ethical theory. Justice on the social and political level is what best promotes the well-being and public interest of the greatest number of citizens. The core principle of social justice is, in Mill’s terms, the principle of social utility. Social utility is referred to as the principle advanced by utilitarian’s that justice

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