A hidden camera shows streets blocked by huge crowds of Muslim worshippers and enforced by a private security force.
This is all illegal in France: the public worship, the blocked streets, and the private security. But the police have been ordered not to intervene.
Privileged status of Islam in Paris.
Chapter 10: Revolution and Enlightenment, 1550–1800, Section 2 The Enlightenment
The Scientific Revolution gave rise to the Enlightenment, an eighteenth-century movement that stressed the role of philosophy and reason in improving society. Enlightenment intellectuals, known as philosophes, were chiefly social reformers from the nobility and the middle class. They often met in the salons of the upper classes to discuss the ideas of such giants as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot. In the economic sphere, Adam Smith put forth the doctrine of laissez-faire economics. The later Enlightenment produced social thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and an early advocate of women's rights, Mary Wollstonecraft. Salon gatherings, along with the growth of book and magazine publishing, helped spread Enlightenment ideas among a broad audience. Most Europeans were still Christians. However, the desire for a more spiritual experience inspired new religious movements, such as the Methodism of John Wesley.
Terms, People, and Places
I created a new page: Ch. 10 Sec. 1 which is now a Quiz Prep page on our Shanawiki (Cf. http://shanawiki.wikispaces.com/) site.
In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s most important work, The Social Contract (1762), he argued that in order to be free, people should do what is best for their community, as people freely express themselves. Rousseau felt that society placed too many limitations on people’s behavior. He believed that some controls were necessary, but that they should be minimal. Additionally, only governments that had been freely elected should impose these controls. Rousseau had many supporters who were inspired by his passionate writings. European monarchs, on the other hand, were angry that Rousseau was questioning authority. In fact, he was questioning their authority. As a result, Rousseau worried about persecution for much of his life.
The “chains” in the quote from Rousseau below represent the social institutions that confined society.
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
—Rousseau, The Social Contract
Creative Quotations from Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1:11
In-class assignment: paraphrase one of Rousseau's statements in your own words (email/hand in with the daily HW).
A thought provoking collection of Creative Quotations from Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778); born on Jun 28. French philosopher, educational reformer, author; He was an influential educational reformer; His teacher-student contract changed education.
Rousseau believed that people in their natural state were basically good. This natural innocence, he felt, was corrupted by the evils of society, especially the unequal distribution of property. Many reformers and revolutionaries later adopted this view. Among them were Thomas Paine and Marquis de Lafayette, who were leading figures of the American and French Revolutions.
Reading Check
Summarizing
What were Rousseau's basic theories as presented in The Social Contract and Emile?
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, two seventeenth-century English thinkers, set forth ideas that were to become key to the Enlightenment. Both men lived through the upheavals of the English Civil War. Yet they came to very different conclusions about human nature and the role of government.
Audio Background: Hobbes and Locke Have Conflicting Views
Thomas Hobbes outlined his ideas in a work titled Leviathan. In it, he argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish. If not strictly controlled, they would fight, rob, and oppress one another.
Hobbes' most important quote follows:
Life in the “state of nature”—without laws or other control—would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
To escape that “brutish” life, said Hobbes, people entered into a social contract, an agreement by which they gave up their freedom for an organized society. Hobbes believed that only a powerful government could ensure an orderly society. For him, such a government was an absolute monarchy, which could impose order and compel obedience.
The title page, pictured here, from Leviathan (1651) by Hobbes demonstrates his belief in a powerful ruler. The monarch here represents the Leviathan who rises above all of society.
On the other hand, John Locke (1632–1704) had a more optimistic view of human nature than did Hobbes. He thought people were basically reasonable and moral. Further, they had certain natural rights, or rights that belonged to all humans from birth. These included the right to life, liberty, and property.
John Locke and a book of his writings
In Two Treatises of Government (1690), Locke argued that people formed governments to protect their natural rights. The best kind of government, he said, had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Thus, unlike Hobbes, Locke rejected absolute monarchy. England during this time experienced a shift in political power known as the Glorious Revolution. James II, an unpopular absolute monarch, left the throne and fled England in 1688. Locke later wrote that he thought James II deserved to be dethroned for violating the rights of the English.
Locke's Influence on American Constitutional Ideas: Life, Liberty, and Property (the pursuit of happiness)
Locke proposed a radical idea about this time. A government, he said, has an obligation to the people it governs. If a government fails its obligations or violates people’s natural rights, the people have the right to overthrow that government. Locke’s idea would one day influence leaders of the American Revolution, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Locke’s idea of the right of revolution would also echo across Europe and Latin America in the centuries that followed.
The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property; and the end while they choose and authorize a legislature is that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the society.
"Whensoever, therefore, the legislative [power] shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people; who have a right to resume their original liberty, and by the establishment of a new legislative (such as they shall think fit), provide for their own safety and security. . . .”
John Locke
In-class assignment
Thinking Critically
1. Draw Inferences
According to Locke, how should a land be governed? Why do you think this is the case?
2. Identify Central Issues
What does Locke say can happen if a government fails to protect the rights of its people?
Rights of Women
The Enlightenment slogan “free and equal” did not apply to women. Though the philosophes said women had natural rights, their rights were limited to the areas of home and family.
By the mid- to late-1700s, a small but growing number of women protested this view. Germaine de Staël in France and Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft in Britain argued that women were being excluded from the social contract itself. Their arguments, however, were ridiculed and often sharply condemned.
Creative Quotations from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1:26
In-class assignment: paraphrase one of Wollstonecraft's sayings in your own words and email/hand-in with your daily HW.
A thought provoking collection of Creative Quotations from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851); born on Aug 30. English author; She is best known as the creator and author of "Frankenstein," 1818.
Wollstonecraft was a well-known British social critic. She accepted that a woman’s first duty was to be a good mother but felt that a woman should be able to decide what was in her own interest without depending on her husband. In 1792, Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In it, she called for equal education for girls and boys. Only education, she argued, could give women the tools they needed to participate equally with men in public life.
Reading Check
Evaluating
How did Mary Wollstonecraft use the Enlightenment ideal of reason to advocate rights for women?
Social World of the Enlightenment
The Growth of Reading
The Salon
New literature, the arts, science, and philosophy were regular topics of discussion in salons, or informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas. The salon originated in the 1600s, when a group of noblewomen in Paris began inviting a few friends to their homes for poetry readings. By the 1700s, some middle-class women began holding salons. Here middle-class citizens could meet with the nobility on an equal footing to discuss and spread Enlightenment ideas.
Madame Geoffrin (zhoh fran, far right in blue), in her famous salon where Enlightenment thinkers gathered to share ideas.
Madame Geoffrin (zhoh fran) ran one of the most respected salons. In her home on the Rue St. Honoré (roo sant ahn ur ay), she brought together the brightest and most talented people of her day. The young musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played for her guests, and Diderot was a regular at her weekly dinners for philosophers and poets.
Reading Check
Examining
What was the importance of salons?
Religion in the Enlightenment
John Wesley Sermon: Thoughts on War, 5:30
In-class assignment: in your own words, summarize Wesley's sermon on war in a paragraph. Email the assignment with your HW for the day.
Mark Topping as John Wesley. Taken from the DVD dramatizing significant moments in his life: Cf. www.revjohnwesley.com; for more about the Methodist Church of Great Britain: Cf. www.methodist.org.uk.
The concepts of goods, services, consumers, markets, factor markets, product markets, productivity, economic growth, and economic interdependence are explained and are linked in the circular flow diagram. Productivity is necessary for economic growth, and growth takes place when specialization and the division of labor are present. In addition, human capital, the sum of our skills, abilities, health, and motivations are other important components of growth.
As I pointed out yesterday, the next terms are HW for tonight.
division of labor
specialization
economic interdependence
Academic Vocabulary
transferable
accumulation
mechanism
Adam Smith and David Ricardo argued that similar benefits accrue from international specialization and trade. If each country specializes in the types of production at which they are best suited, the total amount of goods and services produced in the world economy will increase. Let's examine these arguments a bit more carefully.
There are two measures that are commonly used to determine whether an individual or a country is "best" at a particular activity: absolute advantage and comparative advantage. These two concepts are often confused. An individual (or country) possesses an absolute advantage in the production of a good if the individual (or country) can produce more than can other individuals (or countries). An individual (or country) possesses a comparative advantage in the production of a good if the individual (or country) can produce the good at the lowest opportunity cost.
Economic Interdependence
Let's examine an example illustrating the difference between these two concepts. Suppose that the U.S. and Japan only produced two goods: CD players and wheat. The diagram below represents production possibilities curves for these two countries. (These numbers are obviously hypothetical).
Notice that the U.S. has an absolute advantage in the production of each commodity. To determine who has a comparative advantage, though, it is necessary to compute the opportunity cost for each good. It is assumed that the production possibilities curve (PPC) is linear to simplify this discussion (we will talk about the PPC in greater detail in a subsequent lesson).
The opportunity cost of one unit of CD players in the U.S. is 2 units of wheat. In Japan, the opportunity cost of one unit of CD players is 4/3 of a unit of wheat. Thus, Japan possesses a comparative advantage in CD player production.
The U.S. however, has a comparative advantage in wheat production since the opportunity cost of a unit of wheat is 1/2 of a unit of CD players in the U.S., but is 3/4 of a unit of CD players in Japan.
If each country specializes in producing the good in which it possesses a comparative advantage, it can acquire the other good through trade at a cost that is less than the opportunity cost of production in the domestic economy. For example, suppose that the U.S. and Japan agree to trade one unit of CD players for 1.6 units of wheat. The U.S. gains from this trade because it can acquire a unit of CD players for 1.6 units of wheat, which is less than the opportunity cost of producing CD players domestically. Japan gains from this trade since it's able to trade one CD player for 1.6 units of wheat while it only cost Japan 4/3 of a unit of wheat to produce a unit of CD players.
If each country produces only those goods in which it possesses a comparative advantage, each good is produced in the global economy at the lowest opportunity cost. This results in an increase in the level of total output.
Reading Check
Analyzing
What role does specialization play in the productivity of an economy?
Profiles in Economics, p. 18
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
French thinkers known as physiocrats focused on economic reforms. Like the philosophes, physiocrats based their thinking on natural laws. The physiocrats claimed that their rational economic system was based on the natural laws of economics.
Physiocrats rejected mercantilism, which required government regulation of the economy to achieve a favorable balance of trade. Instead, they urged a policy of laissez faire (les ay fehr), allowing business to operate with little or no government interference. Physiocrats also supported free trade and opposed tariffs.
Scottish economist Adam Smith greatly admired the physiocrats. In his influential work The Wealth of Nations, he argued that the free market should be allowed to regulate business activity. Smith tried to show how manufacturing, trade, wages, profits, and economic growth were all linked to the market forces of supply and demand. Wherever there was a demand for goods or services, he said, suppliers would seek to meet that demand in order to gain profits. Smith was a strong supporter of laissez faire. However, he felt that government had a duty to protect society, administer justice, and provide public works. Adam Smith’s ideas would help to shape productive economies in the 1800s and 1900s.
Division of Labor
Smith, a Scottish economist, argued that economies function most efficiently and fairly when individuals are allowed to pursue their own interests.
One person may decide to be a baker, another a merchant. One person may choose to sell his land, another to farm it. But all of these private decisions, made by rational, self-interested individuals, Smith argued, combine to produce a healthy, growing economy.
Invisible Hand
The great threat to economic growth, Smith argued, was government intervention—the government telling people what to do would only muddy the waters. Government intervention distorted the natural and rational exercise of free, prudent choice. When left to their own natural operation, the private decisions made by thousands of rational economic players were tied into prosperous harmony by the “invisible hand” of the market.
Wealth of Nations
If you haven't read his famous book, it's absolutely worth checking out, whether or not you consider yourself a disciple of the free market. The Wealth of Nations is, without a doubt, one of the most important books of all time. And the ideas it contained played a powerful role in shaping the development of American economic thought. The book is relevant it matters today what he wrote.
Adam Smith's metaphor of the invisible hand remains one of the most important and influential ideas in economics, even today. As Americans have recently grappled with questions about how government should and should not intervene in the economy, many have turned to Smith for guidance.
Based on your understanding of Smith:
What would Adam Smith think about the stimulus bill? About universal government-organized health insurance? About bailouts for companies judged "too big to fail"?
Cf. Adam Smith, http://www.shmoop.com/economic-systems/botw/resources?d=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Smith.html
Preview:
Section 3: Economic Choices and Decision Making, p. 19
Choices are explained in terms of trade-offs, or alternatives that are available whenever a decision is made. The cost of every decision is measured in terms of its opportunity cost, which is the cost of the next best alternative use of money, time, or resources when one choice is made rather than another. Trade-offs can be analyzed with a production possibilities frontier, a diagram representing various combinations of goods and services an economy can produce when all its resources are in use. Furthermore, economists use cost-benefit analysis to evaluate choices.
Guide to Reading
Section Preview
Content Vocabulary
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Strategy
Identifying
People in the News
The Grease Pits of Academia
Trade-Offs and Opportunity Cost, p. 20
Trade-Offs
The Death of Economics Trade-Offs, 6:00
This video by Christopher Barnatt discusses how the "green trade-off", the "consequence behind the price" and "challenges beyond economic solutions" may mean the end of economics as a primary decision making mechanism.
Opportunity Costs
Opportunity Cost, 3:39
Opportunity cost is one of the most critical concepts in economics - outside of economics, it's an often-overlooked component when costs are considered.
The opportunity cost of any alternative is defined as the cost of not selecting the "next-best" alternative. Let's consider a few examples of opportunity cost:
* Suppose that you own a building that you use for a retail store. If the next-best use of the building is to rent it to someone else, the opportunity cost of using the business for your business is the rent you could have received. If the next-best use of the building is to sell it to someone else, the annual opportunity cost of using it for your own business is the foregone interest that you could have received (e.g., if the interest rate is 10% and the building is worth $100,000, you give up $10,000 in interest each year by keeping the building, assuming that the value of the building remains constant over the year -- depreciation or appreciation would have to be taken into account if the value of the building changes over time).
* The opportunity class of attending college includes:
o the cost of tuition, books, and supplies (the costs of room and board only appear if these costs differ from the levels that would have been paid in your next-best alternative),
o foregone income (this is usually the largest cost associated with college attendance), and
o psychic costs (the stress, anxiety, etc. associated with studying, worrying about grades, etc.).
* If you attend a movie, the opportunity cost includes not only the cost of the tickets and transportation, but also the opportunity cost of the time required to view the movie.
When economists discuss the costs and benefits associated with alternative activities, the discussion generally focuses on marginal benefits and marginal costs. The marginal benefit from an activity is the additional benefit associated with a one-unit increase in the level of an activity. Marginal cost is defined as the additional cost associated with a one-unit increase in the level of the activity. Economists assume that individuals attempt to maximize the net benefit associated with each activity.
If marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost, net benefit will increase if the level of the activity rises. Therefore, rational individuals will increase the level of any activity when marginal benefit exceeds marginal costs. On the other hand, if marginal cost exceeds marginal benefit, net benefit rises when the level of the activity is decreased. There is no reason to change the level of an activity (and net benefit is maximized) at the level of an activity at which marginal benefit equals marginal cost.
Reading Check
Summarizing
How are trade-offs and opportunity cost related?
Production Possibilities, p. 21
Scarcity implies the existence of tradeoffs. These tradeoffs can be illustrated quite nicely by a production possibilities frontier.
For simplicity, it is assumed that a firm (or an economy) produces only two goods (this assumption is needed only to make the representation feasible on a two-dimensional surface -- such as a graph on paper or on a computer screen). When a production possibilities curve is drawn, the following assumptions are also made:
1. there is a fixed quantity and quality of available resources,
2. technology is fixed, and
3. there are no unemployed nor underemployed resources
Very shortly, we'll also see what happens when these assumptions are relaxed.
For now, though, let's consider a simple example. Suppose that a student has four hours left to study for exams in two classes: introductory microeconomics and introductory calculus. The output in this case is the exam score in each class. The assumption of a fixed quantity and quality of available resources means that the individual has a fixed supply of study materials such as textbooks, study guides, notes, etc. to use in the available time. A fixed technology suggests that the individual has a given level of study skills that allow him or her to translate the review materials into exam scores. A resource is unemployed if it is not used. Idle land, factories, and workers are unemployed resources for a society. Underemployed resources are not used in the best possible way. Society would have underemployed resources if the best brain surgeons were driving taxis while the best taxi drivers were performing brain surgery.... The use of an adjustable wrench as a hammer or the use of a hammer to pound a screw into wood provide additional examples of underemployed resources. If there are no unemployed or underemployed resources, efficient production is said to occur.
The table below represents possible outcomes from each various combination of time studying each subject:
Notice that each additional hour spent studying either calculus or economics results in smaller marginal improvements in the grade. The reason for this is that the first hour will be spent studying the most essential concepts. Each additional hour is spent on the "next-most" important topics that have not already been mastered. (It is important to note that a good grade on an economics examination requires substantially more than four hours of study time.) This is an example of a general principle known as the law of diminishing returns. The law of diminishing returns states that output will ultimately increase by progressively smaller amounts as additional units of a variable input (time in this case) are added to a production process in which other inputs are fixed (the fixed inputs here include the stock of existing subject matter knowledge, study materials, etc.).
To see how the law of diminishing returns works in a more typical production setting, consider the case of a restaurant that has a fixed quantity of capital (grills, broilers, fryers, refrigerators, tables, etc.). As the level of labor use increases, output may initially rise fairly rapidly (since additional workers allow more possibilities for specialization and reduces the time spent switching from task to task). Eventually, however, the addition of more workers will result in progressively smaller increases in output (since there is a fixed amount of capital for these workers to use). It is even possible that beyond some point workers may start getting in each others way and output may decline ("too many cooks may spoil the broth...." sorry.... I couldn't resist).
In any case, the law of diminishing returns explains why your grade will increase by fewer points with each additional hour that you spend studying.
The points in the table above can be represented by a production possibilities curve (PPC) such as the one appearing in the diagram below. Each point on the production possibilities curve represents the best grades that can be achieved with the existing resources and technology for each alternative allocation of study time.
Let's consider why the production possibilities curve has this concave shape. As the diagram below indicates, a relatively large improvement in economics grade can be achieved by giving up relatively few points on the calculus exam. A movement from point A to point B results in a 30-point increase in economics grade and only a 10-point reduction in calculus grade. The marginal opportunity cost of a good is defined to be the amount of another good that must be given up to produce an additional unit of the first good. Since the opportunity cost of 30 points on the economics test is a 10-point reduction in the score on the calculus test, we can say that the marginal opportunity cost of one additional point on the economics test is approximately 1/3 of a point on the calculus test. (If in doubt, note that if 30 points on the economics exam have an opportunity cost of 10 points, each point on the economics test must cost approximately 1/30th of 10 points on the calculus test -- approximately 1/3 of a point on the calculus test).
Now, let's see what happens a second hour is transferred to the study of economics. The diagram below illustrates this outcome (a movement from point B to C). As this diagram indicates, transferring a second hour from the study of mathematics to the study of economics results in a smaller increase in economics grade (from 30 to 45 points) and a larger reduction in calculus grade (from 75 to 55). In this case, the marginal opportunity cost of a point on the economics exam has increased to approximately 4/3 of a point on the calculus exam.
The increase in the marginal opportunity cost of points on the economics exam as more time is devoted to studying economics is an example of the law of increasing cost. This law states that the marginal opportunity cost of any activity rises as the level of the activity increases. This law can also be illustrated using the table below. Notice that the opportunity cost of additional points on the calculus exam rises as more time is devoted to studying calculus. Reading from the bottom of the table up to the top, you can also see that the opportunity cost of additional points on the economics exam rises as more time is devoted to the study of economics.
One of the reasons for the law of increasing cost is the law of diminishing returns (as in the example above). Each extra hour devoted to the study of economics results in a smaller increase in the economics grade and a larger reduction in the calculus grade because of diminishing returns to time spent on either activity.
A second reason for the law of increasing cost is the fact that resources are specialized. Some resources are better suited for some some types of productive activities than for other types of production. Suppose, for example, that a farmer is producing both wheat and corn. Some land is very well suited for growing wheat, while other land is relatively better suit for growing corn. Some workers may be more adept at growing wheat than corn. Some farm equipment is better suited for planting and harvesting corn.
The diagram below illustrates the PPC curve for this farmer.
At the top of this PPC, the farmer is producing only corn. To produce more wheat, the farmer must transfer resources from corn production to wheat production. Initially, however, he or she will transfer those resources that are relatively better suited for wheat production. This allows wheat production to increase with only a relatively small reduction in the quantity of corn produced. Each additional increase in wheat production, however, requires the use of resources that are relatively less well suited for wheat production, resulting in a rising marginal opportunity cost of wheat.
Now, let's suppose that this farmer either does not use all of the available resources, or uses them in a less than optimal manner (i.e., either unemployment or underemployment occurs). In this case, the farmer will produce at a point that lies below the production possibilities curve (as illustrated by point A in the diagram below).
In practice, all firms and all economies operate below their production possibilities frontier. Firms and economies, however, generally attempt to get as close to the frontier as possible.
Points above the production possibilities cannot be produced using current resources and technology. In the diagram below, point B is not obtainable unless more or higher quality resources become available or technological change occurs.
An increase in the quantity or quantity of resources will cause the production possibilities curve to shift outward (the curve should shift outwards for both wheat and corn). This type of outward shift could also be caused by technological change that increases the production of both goods.
Thus, for the production of both goods: an increase in the quantity or quantity of resources will cause the production possibilities curve to shift outward.
In some cases, however, technological change will only increase the production of a specific good. The diagram below illustrates the effect of a technological change in wheat production that does not affect corn production.
Identifying Possible Alternatives
Fully Employed Resources
The Cost of Idle Resources
Opportunity Cost, p. 22
Economic Growth
Reading Check
Synthesizing
How can the production possibilities frontier be used to illustrate economic growth?
Thinking Like an Economist, p. 23
Build Simple Models
Apply Cost-Benefit Analysis, p. 24
Cost/Benefit Analysis, 5:24
Here's a short little video that explains the economic concept of Cost/Benefit Analysis, made by high school students for their economics class. We do not own the music, "My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson. Also, our use of an H.E.B. store as our filming location was a matter of convenience. We did not intend to promote or disparage the store in any way.
How to Fix Health Care: Lasik Surgery For The Medical Debate, 8:43
Can a market-based health care system work? We can begin to answer this question by looking at Lasik, a medical procedure that's not covered by health insurance. And has gotten better—and cheaper—over time.
"How to Fix Health Care" proposes three simple reforms that will put us on a path to a health-care system that's better, more affordable, and more accessible. And get this—these market-based reforms can be implemented without creating new government programs or raising taxes.
Take Small, Incremental Steps
The Road Ahead
Topics and Issues
Economics for Citizenship, p. 25
Understand the World Around Us
Reading Check
Determining Cause and Effect
How do you think our society would be different if citizens did not study economics?
In an interconnected world of finite resources, understanding the principles that govern the allocation of goods and services—economics—is essential. Although economics has not traditionally been a part of the liberal arts core, informed citizenship in the 21st century requires instruction in economic principles and the fundamentals of the marketplace.
Yet, most colleges and Universities do not require Economics study. Schools receive credit for Economics if they require a course covering basic economic principles, preferably an introductory micro- or macroeconomics course taught by faculty from the economics or business departments.
Sustainable Energy Systems: Scale, Tradeoffs, and Co-Benefits, 1:03:53
October 14, 2009 - Sally Benson, director of the Global Climate and Energy Project, Pamela Matson, dean of the Stanford School of Earth Sciences, Lynn Orr, director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, Stephen Schneider, Stanford professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, James Sweeney, director of the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, and Buzz Thompson, co-director of the Woods Institute for the Environment, discuss the interconnected aspects of future sustainable energy systems with a focus on the scales, tradeoffs, and co-benefits involved.
What do you want from life? (The Tubes), 3:57
Lyrics reproduced for educational purposes only; copyright remains in the hands of the lawful owners.
What Do You Want From Life
Spooner/Evans
What do you want from life
To kidnap an heiress
or threaten her with a knife
What do you want from life
To get cable TV
and watch it every night
There you sit
a lump in your chair
Where do you sleep
and what do you wear
when you're sleeping
What do you want from life
An Indian guru
to show you the inner light
What do you want from life
a meaningless love affair
with a girl that you met tonight
How can you tell when you're doin' alright
Does your bank account swell
While you're dreaming at night
How do know when you're really in love
Do violins play when you're touching the one
That you're loving
What do you want from life
Someone to love
and somebody that you can trust
What do you want from life
To try and be happy
while you do the nasty things you must
Well, you can't have that, but if you're an American citizen you are entitled to:
a heated kidney shaped pool,
a microwave oven--don't watch the food cook,
a Dyna-Gym--I'll personally demonstrate it in the privacy of your own home,
a king-size Titanic unsinkable Molly Brown waterbed with polybendum,
a foolproof plan and an airtight alibi,
real simulated Indian jewelry,
a Gucci shoetree,
a year's supply of antibiotics,
a personally autographed picture of Randy Mantooth
and Bob Dylan's new unlisted phone number,
a beautifully restored 3rd Reich swizzle stick,
Rosemary's baby,
a dream date in kneepads with Paul Williams,
a new Matador, a new mastodon,
a Maverick, a Mustang, a Montego,
a Merc Montclair, a Mark IV, a meteor,
a Mercedes, an MG, or a Malibu,
a Mort Moriarty, a Maserati, a Mac truck,
a Mazda, a new Monza, or a moped,
a Winnebago--Hell, a herd of Winnebago's we're giving 'em away,
or how about a McCulloch chainsaw,
a Las Vegas wedding,
a Mexican divorce,
a solid gold Kama Sutra coffee pot,
or a baby's arm holding an apple?
HW
Email me at gmsmith@shanahan.org, or in a hard copy hand in.
1. Ch. 1 Sec. 1 Scarcity and the Science of Economics, review the material because there is a Quiz (hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) on Friday.
France could soon become the first European country to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa. The burqa clothing is the full-body Islamic covering used in nations like Afghanistan.
Shannon Demos of the American Center for Law and Justice appeared on CBN Newschannel's Morning program to discuss the significance of the burqa.
The French parliament is considering making it illegal for women to cover their faces in public spaces, like hospitals and trains. Some say it is a security threat because it has been used by suicide bombers before.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy supports the ban.
"The burqa is not a religious symbol, it's a sign of enslavement," Sarkozy said. "We cannot accept in our country women imprisoned behind a net."
Chapter 10: Revolution and Enlightenment, 1550–1800, Section 2 The Enlightenment
The Scientific Revolution gave rise to the Enlightenment, an eighteenth-century movement that stressed the role of philosophy and reason in improving society. Enlightenment intellectuals, known as philosophes, were chiefly social reformers from the nobility and the middle class. They often met in the salons of the upper classes to discuss the ideas of such giants as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot. In the economic sphere, Adam Smith put forth the doctrine of laissez-faire economics. The later Enlightenment produced social thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and an early advocate of women's rights, Mary Wollstonecraft. Salon gatherings, along with the growth of book and magazine publishing, helped spread Enlightenment ideas among a broad audience. Most Europeans were still Christians. However, the desire for a more spiritual experience inspired new religious movements, such as the Methodism of John Wesley.
Terms, People, and Places
I created a new page: Ch. 10 Sec. 1 which is now a Quiz Prep page on our Shanawiki (Cf. http://shanawiki.wikispaces.com/) site.
Toward a New Social Science
French thinkers known as physiocrats focused on economic reforms. Like the philosophes, physiocrats based their thinking on natural laws. The physiocrats claimed that their rational economic system was based on the natural laws of economics.
Economics
Physiocrats rejected mercantilism, which required government regulation of the economy to achieve a favorable balance of trade. Instead, they urged a policy of laissez faire (les ay fehr), allowing business to operate with little or no government interference. Physiocrats also supported free trade and opposed tariffs.
Scottish economist Adam Smith greatly admired the physiocrats. In his influential work The Wealth of Nations, he argued that the free market should be allowed to regulate business activity. Smith tried to show how manufacturing, trade, wages, profits, and economic growth were all linked to the market forces of supply and demand. Wherever there was a demand for goods or services, he said, suppliers would seek to meet that demand in order to gain profits. Smith was a strong supporter of laissez faire. However, he felt that government had a duty to protect society, administer justice, and provide public works. Adam Smith’s ideas would help to shape productive economies in the 1800s and 1900s.
Power of the Market - Invisible Hand, 1:14
In-class assignment: How does an invisible hand guide economic activity in a free market according to Adam Smith?
Email or hand-in with your HW for the day.
Milton Friedman explains how an invisible hand guides economic activity in a free market.
Investors in Paris, France, 1720
Beccaria and Justice
Reading Check
Explaining
What is the concept of laissez-faire?
The Later Enlightenment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (roo soh) and quill pen
Rousseau Stirs Things Up: Cf. http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/iText/products/0-13-133374-7/audio.html?fname=audio/audio_WH07Y03728.mov
In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s most important work, The Social Contract (1762), he argued that in order to be free, people should do what is best for their community, as people freely express themselves. Rousseau felt that society placed too many limitations on people’s behavior. He believed that some controls were necessary, but that they should be minimal. Additionally, only governments that had been freely elected should impose these controls. Rousseau had many supporters who were inspired by his passionate writings. European monarchs, on the other hand, were angry that Rousseau was questioning authority. In fact, he was questioning their authority. As a result, Rousseau worried about persecution for much of his life.
The “chains” in the quote from Rousseau below represent the social institutions that confined society.
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
—Rousseau, The Social Contract
Creative Quotations from Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1:11
In-class assignment: paraphrase one of Rousseau's statements in your own words (email/hand in with the daily HW).
A thought provoking collection of Creative Quotations from Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778); born on Jun 28. French philosopher, educational reformer, author; He was an influential educational reformer; His teacher-student contract changed education.
Rousseau believed that people in their natural state were basically good. This natural innocence, he felt, was corrupted by the evils of society, especially the unequal distribution of property. Many reformers and revolutionaries later adopted this view. Among them were Thomas Paine and Marquis de Lafayette, who were leading figures of the American and French Revolutions.
Reading Check
Summarizing
What were Rousseau's basic theories as presented in The Social Contract and Emile?
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, two seventeenth-century English thinkers, set forth ideas that were to become key to the Enlightenment. Both men lived through the upheavals of the English Civil War. Yet they came to very different conclusions about human nature and the role of government.
Audio Background: Hobbes and Locke Have Conflicting Views
Thomas Hobbes outlined his ideas in a work titled Leviathan. In it, he argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish. If not strictly controlled, they would fight, rob, and oppress one another.
Hobbes' most important quote follows:
Life in the “state of nature”—without laws or other control—would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
To escape that “brutish” life, said Hobbes, people entered into a social contract, an agreement by which they gave up their freedom for an organized society. Hobbes believed that only a powerful government could ensure an orderly society. For him, such a government was an absolute monarchy, which could impose order and compel obedience.
The title page, pictured here, from Leviathan (1651) by Hobbes demonstrates his belief in a powerful ruler. The monarch here represents the Leviathan who rises above all of society.
On the other hand, John Locke (1632–1704) had a more optimistic view of human nature than did Hobbes. He thought people were basically reasonable and moral. Further, they had certain natural rights, or rights that belonged to all humans from birth. These included the right to life, liberty, and property.
John Locke and a book of his writings
In Two Treatises of Government (1690), Locke argued that people formed governments to protect their natural rights. The best kind of government, he said, had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Thus, unlike Hobbes, Locke rejected absolute monarchy. England during this time experienced a shift in political power known as the Glorious Revolution. James II, an unpopular absolute monarch, left the throne and fled England in 1688. Locke later wrote that he thought James II deserved to be dethroned for violating the rights of the English.
Locke's Influence on American Constitutional Ideas: Life, Liberty, and Property (the pursuit of happiness)
Locke proposed a radical idea about this time. A government, he said, has an obligation to the people it governs. If a government fails its obligations or violates people’s natural rights, the people have the right to overthrow that government. Locke’s idea would one day influence leaders of the American Revolution, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Locke’s idea of the right of revolution would also echo across Europe and Latin America in the centuries that followed.
The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property; and the end while they choose and authorize a legislature is that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the society.
"Whensoever, therefore, the legislative [power] shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people; who have a right to resume their original liberty, and by the establishment of a new legislative (such as they shall think fit), provide for their own safety and security. . . .”
John Locke
In-class assignment
Thinking Critically
1. Draw Inferences
According to Locke, how should a land be governed? Why do you think this is the case?
2. Identify Central Issues
What does Locke say can happen if a government fails to protect the rights of its people?
Rights of Women
The Enlightenment slogan “free and equal” did not apply to women. Though the philosophes said women had natural rights, their rights were limited to the areas of home and family.
By the mid- to late-1700s, a small but growing number of women protested this view. Germaine de Staël in France and Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft in Britain argued that women were being excluded from the social contract itself. Their arguments, however, were ridiculed and often sharply condemned.
Creative Quotations from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1:26
In-class assignment: paraphrase one of Wollstonecraft's sayings in your own words and email/hand-in with your daily HW.
A thought provoking collection of Creative Quotations from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851); born on Aug 30. English author; She is best known as the creator and author of "Frankenstein," 1818.
Wollstonecraft was a well-known British social critic. She accepted that a woman’s first duty was to be a good mother but felt that a woman should be able to decide what was in her own interest without depending on her husband. In 1792, Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In it, she called for equal education for girls and boys. Only education, she argued, could give women the tools they needed to participate equally with men in public life.
Reading Check
Evaluating
How did Mary Wollstonecraft use the Enlightenment ideal of reason to advocate rights for women?
Social World of the Enlightenment
The Growth of Reading
The Salon
New literature, the arts, science, and philosophy were regular topics of discussion in salons, or informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas. The salon originated in the 1600s, when a group of noblewomen in Paris began inviting a few friends to their homes for poetry readings. By the 1700s, some middle-class women began holding salons. Here middle-class citizens could meet with the nobility on an equal footing to discuss and spread Enlightenment ideas.
Madame Geoffrin (zhoh fran, far right in blue), in her famous salon where Enlightenment thinkers gathered to share ideas.
Madame Geoffrin (zhoh fran) ran one of the most respected salons. In her home on the Rue St. Honoré (roo sant ahn ur ay), she brought together the brightest and most talented people of her day. The young musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played for her guests, and Diderot was a regular at her weekly dinners for philosophers and poets.
Reading Check
Examining
What was the importance of salons?
Religion in the Enlightenment
John Wesley Sermon: Thoughts on War, 5:30
In-class assignment: in your own words, summarize Wesley's sermon on war in a paragraph. Email the assignment with your HW for the day.
Mark Topping as John Wesley. Taken from the DVD dramatizing significant moments in his life: Cf. www.revjohnwesley.com; for more about the Methodist Church of Great Britain: Cf. www.methodist.org.uk.
