Food for Thought

Week 5: Thursday, February 13

For everyone:

1) When Wright discusses different historical interpretations of French economic development in the 19th century, he refers to the "coal" and "culture" men. What are both schools of thought attempting to explain? How do their explanations differ?

2) By the time of Napoleon III, into what different groups were the French aristocracy divided? Into what different categories does Wright divide the French bourgeoisie?

Auguste Comte, System of a Positivist Polity (Burke to Fawcett)

1) What is positivism, and what is its object? What is the motto of positivism?

2) According to Comte, in what order should his plan be systematized? In what way ought people achieve the unity necessary for making his system work? Should thoughts be systematized before feelings or vice versa? Should the heart be subordinate to the head or vice versa?

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, First Memoir: An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and Government (Hill to Moranski)

1) According to Proudhon, why is private property asocial and not a natural right?

2) According to Proudhon, what is our natural condition with regard to property? What factor ought to determine how much property we have?

Arthur de Gobineau, The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races (O'Brien to Vartiainen)

1) Why does Gobineau think that environmental factors are not sufficient to explain the differences he sees between races?

2) Why does Gobineau think that different races have different intellectual capacities?