Political Ideas First Take-home Exam Due: Oct. 13
Answer any three of the following
questions. Answer each question with
essay approximately 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pages long (typed, double-spaced). Draw on the relevant readings and our class
discussions, but try to express your ideas in your own words, using only brief
quotations, if any. When you do quote
or paraphrase the ideas of other authors, give them credit and indicate where
you found the idea. A page reference
in parentheses is sufficient for this purpose; formal footnotes are not
necessary. For example: (Ball and Dagger, p.39) or (Locke, in Ideals
and Ideologies, p.36)
1.
What
reasons (or assumptions) have led many people to conclude that democracy is
either a bad idea altogether or, more moderately, that there is such a thing as
too much democracy? How might a
defender of democracy reply? Do you
think that democracy is preferable to monarchy or aristocracy? Why?
Should democracy be limited by some other political principle? Why?
2. Discuss Locke's defense of the institution of private
property. Do we need to suppose that
property rights are more limited than Locke thought they were? Explain and defend your answer.
3.
Do you think that people should be regarded as having positive rights
(examples: a right to an adequate diet, or to a job, or to a decent
education)? Or should we limit our list
of rights to negative rights (examples:
rights not to be killed or assaulted, not to be unjustly imprisoned, not
to be tortured, not to be subject to government censorship)? Explain and defend your answer. (Explain how you would reply to those who
have argued for either a more extensive or a less extensive conception of
rights than your own.) You might find
it helpful to focus on one positive right -- a right to food or to education or
to health care, for example -- and explain why you do (or do not) think that
society should recognize such a right.
4. Locke
used a version of social contract theory to argue that the functions of
government should be quite limited. How
does his argument go? Do you think this
Lockean argument is a cogent one? Why
or why not? In general (leaving aside
the details of Locke's particular version of social contract theory), do you
think that it is useful to conceive of government as deriving its authority
from some kind of contract or agreement? (Explain.)
5. Ball and Dagger
say that one element of traditional conservatism is a belief in a ‘natural
aristocracy’ and, consequently, a refusal to accept any strong principle of
social equality, which is attacked as ‘leveling’. (See pp.94-5 and 101-4.) What
reasons might such a conservative offer for this belief? Does this mean that a conservative must deny
that "all men are created equal?"
What sort of equality can a conservative believe in? What sort of equality do you believe in?
6.
Supporters of "laissez-faire" capitalist democracy (classical
liberals and some conservatives) say that it is the political system that
provides its citizens with the maximum feasible amount of liberty or
freedom. But modern liberals like Rawls
and T. H. Green say that real freedom is undermined by poverty, ignorance, and
disease. Therefore, they say, to create
a genuinely free society, government must ‘interfere’ in the marketplace (for
example, by regulating workplace health and safety) and provide various
supports and services to make people’s opportunities more equal. Explain and critically evaluate this
argument.
7. Explain as clearly and concisely as you
can what the differences are between the liberal and the conservative
traditions in political thought. What
do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of each tradition? Where would you place yourself in relation
to these two traditions? Why? (Note: in answering this question, do not
rely only on your previous understanding of the terms 'liberal' and
'conservative' as these are used in contemporary U.S. political
discussions. Rely on the meanings of
these terms as explained in the course readings.)