Introduction

Freedom has been and remains a powerful political ideal. Marx, Rousseau,and de Gouge, revolutionaries of their day, use ‘freedom’ in the argument for a new society. Examine the ways in which each writer utilizes ‘freedom’ in the assigned texts while paying attention to the context in which the word and ideal is deployed. After doing so address all of the following prompts/questions.

Prompts for Final Exercise. Please address all items.

1. What does each writer believe freedom is and is not and what material circumstances does each believe are required to guarantee such ‘freedom(s)’
2. In Rights of Woman, de Gouge also speaks of ‘freedom.’ What does she believe ‘freedom’ is, and how does her conception relate to that of Rousseau and Marx? Do Rousseau or Marx speak about women in relation to ‘freedom’? If so, provide an example and quote from the text and explain what it means.
3. Having compared the ‘freedoms’ of Rousseau, Marx, and de Gouge, consider and explain how each relates to either the master-slave relation or the concept of morality (and/or the tightrope walker) in Nietzsche.
4. How is the political ideal of ‘freedom’ used today? Provide some examples and relate them to your analysis.
5. what does freedom mean to you and how does your conception of the ideal compare to that of the thinkers mentioned above?
6. What implications does your conception of freedom have for current movements for social change?

Steps to create the Final Exercise. Please follow all of these steps.

1. Re-read PowerPoints “Rousseau,” class 1 in Moodle, Olympe de Gouges, Moodle, Class 2, “Marx,” Moodle, Class 3, “Nietzsche,” Moodle, Class 5
2. Re-read “Short Intro to Liberalism” class 1 in Moodle
3. Re-read “The Social Contract,” class 1, in Moodle
4. Re-read “Rights of Woman,” class 1, in Moodle
5. Look at your notes and your underlined texts of “The Communist Manifesto”
6. Re-read “Basic Definitions of Marxist Terminology” –Class 3, “Workers of the World Unite!” in Moodle
7. Re-read your underlined texts in “Thus Spoke…,” in Moodle, Class 5
8. Re-Read “Main Concepts,” in Moodle, Class 5
9. Have an awesome discussion
10. Make an eleven-minute long presentation in any of the formats suggested below
11. Title every submission and include teammates names. The title needs to include your table number.
12. At the end of class today, please upload your notes, texts, PPs, Spoken Word written text, script for Skits, and notes, images and videos to the Final Project folder in Moodle. Everything needs to be titled (including table number) and include the names of teammates.

Possible Presentation Formats

Spoken Word, Skits, Video and image analysis, Power Point                                                                                                                Other creative formats might also be accepted, previous consultation with facilitators

Presentation Guidelines