Question 1: Adam Smith and Karl Marx proceed from a shared premise, but arrive at radically different conclusions about capitalism. What is this premise, and how and why do they draw different conclusions from it? How does Marx specifically spell them out? In what way does Marx’s critique of various forms of alienation in his essay “Estranged Labor” speak to issues facing us today—especially those which we have experienced during the pandemic? In answering these questions, make sure to directly engage Smith and Marx’s actual texts.
Question 2:
How does Fanon explain the origin and persistence of anti-Black racism, and how does he propose combatting to it? Why does he adopt a psycho-social approach to race and racism, and what it does it have to do with the effort to overcome barriers to achieving mutual recognition? According to Fanon, what is needed to oppose and overcome racism? Does it require changes on an individual or social level, or both? What did you learn from Fanon’s discussion of race and racism that you may not have known before taking this class?
Question 3: Simone Weil wrote, “automatic machines seem to offer the model for the intelligent, docile, and conscientious worker” to the point that “we have almost lost the notion of what real thought is.” What does she mean by this, and what evidence does she present for this? How might her concern with the possibility of losing “the notion of what real thought is” relate to Plato, Aristotle, Smith, Fanon, or Marx (pick only one of any of these thinkers).
Weil claims that never before have individuals been so subjected to a “social machine” over which they have no control. What is evidence does she supply for this claim?
In criticizing the power of the “social collectivity” in modern society, what kinds of institutions or aspects of social existence is Weil mainly referring to?
What aspects about Weil’s life and thought portrayed in the film “An Encounter with Weil” reflects how seriously she took being morally obligated to others?
