philosophers

• Karl marx:

  ➢ Society is capitalist as it is based on making profit, rather than by the interests of all people.

  ➢ The proletariat (working class) make money for the bourgeoisie (upper class) who control the means of production.

  ➢ These two social classes are in conflict which will lead to social unrest until it culminates in social revolution.
• Simone de beauvoir:

  ➢ Gender is different from one’s biological sex and is a social construction. Society expects each gender to behave in a distinct way.

  ➢ Women are oppressed as they are only valued for their looks and their societal function as wives and mothers. This is a restrictive gender role.

  ➢ Women are ‘the second sex’ as they are seen as less powerful and important to men. Society is therefore patriarchal (male-dominated).
• Sigmund freud:

  ➢ Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis suggests that the human psyche (personality) has three parts.

  ➢ The id is with us from birth. This part wishes to satisfy every urge it has immediately, regardless of the consequences. This is why babies cry to be fed, will snatch toys etc. 

  ➢ The ego develops next. It is the decision-making part of our psyche and works by reason and strategy.

  ➢ The superego develops last. It reflects the values and morals of society which are learned from our parents and others. It is our conscience and means that we experience guilt.
• Aristotle:

  ➢ A tragedy must have:

  • a change of fortune from good to bad (peripeteia) 

  • suffering that creates sympathy (pathos) in the audience leading to an emotional release (catharsis) 

  • a realisation of the cause of the misery (anagnorisis) 

  ➢ The main tragic hero should:

  • be morally good

  • have excessive pride (hubris) 

  • make a tragic mistake (hamartia)  
• Nietzsche:

  ➢ Life is without objective meaning, purpose, or value. There is no God. This belief is called nihilism.

  ➢ In the absence of a God, superhumans (the ubermensch) who are willing to risk all to improve society will take his place. 

  ➢ The ubermensch will be able to establish their own values as the way in which others live their lives.
• Jacques derrida:

  ➢ Language is a system of signs; words only have meaning because of the contrast between these signs. In other words, a concept can only be understood in relation to its opposite e.g. man/woman, white/black.

  ➢ Within these binary opposites there is hierarchy with one being seen as more important.

  ➢ A deconstructive reading of a text will try to expose the way these oppositions work and undermine the binary notion of meaning.
• John locke:

  ➢ Locke argued strongly against the idea that people were born sinful or that some people are innately evil.

  ➢ Instead, he suggested human beings are born with an ‘empty mind’ or tabula rasa which is then shaped by our experiences.

  ➢ He believed that the way children are brought up has a powerful impact on the adults they become
• Carl jung:

  ➢   All people share a ‘collective unconscious’ i.e. a part of our psyche we are not aware of that operates on an instinctual level.

  ➢   Part of this is symbolic character types – or archetypes.

  ➢   As we are not directly aware of them, these archetypes can only be deduced indirectly by examining human behaviour, images, art, myths, religions, or dreams. 

  His theory on personality states that one must embrace oneself to be a whole person. He claims that we all have a ‘shadow’ a darker side.