The Importance of Labor
Why is labor important? For example, in the Second Treatise of Government published in 1690, John Locke argues that labor is a way to obtain more private property, this idea is central to capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which most of the means of production are privately owned and production and distribution are principally governed by a free market. Yet, Karl Marx is another political philosopher who expressed that labor is a way to channel creativity. Marx portrayed capitalism as alienating workers from their labor. Next, in order to be free and un-alienated from labor, Marx suggested that capitalism will need to be replaced by communism. Both political philosophers have compelling ideas of labor and
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Locke described two reasons for the right to property. Firstly, in the beginning of the world, God gave man the fruits in nature that were in common to everyone. One argument by Locke for property is based upon the right to life, for property is necessary to sustain and comfort life. Secondly, a person has a right to property if that person labored to make the product. John Locke described this relationship between property and labor as “The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever . . . he hath mixed his labour with . . . and thereby makes it his property” (§. 27). The right of property is founded on labor for several reasons. Firstly, a person owns their own life. Consequently, a person owns their life and their labor as well, this is because labor is an extension of life. Since a person owns their labor, then a person owns the fruits of their labor, which is their property. Students can claim their written papers because they put labor into it, or a gardener can claim their fruits and vegetables because they put labor into it. This is the self-ownership argument. Secondly, property is founded on labor because labor is a source of value. A laborer who puts labor into something multiplies the value of that product. A good example is un-worked farmland turned into worked farmland. Thirdly, another reason property is founded on labor is …show more content…
Citizens have a right to private property but there are exceptions to this like the no-spoilage rule. In particular, a farmer can pick a barrel of apples instead of just picking one apple for himself. This is wrong because it is destroying and wasting God’s resources for no reason other than just letting them spoil. Once money is introduced that changes everything. Money allows people to not violate the no-spoilage rule and to accumulate vast hordes of wealth and resources. People will realize through money that material things can be exchanged and everyone will consent to the introduction of money because it allows them to trade. However, since people consent to the use of currency, people also will consent to the economic inequality that is derived from currency. According to C. B. Macpherson, in the introduction to the Second Treatise of Government, this could eventually form into social classes between property owners and property less owners or workers
Since the worker’s product is owned by someone else, the worker regards this person, the capitalist, as alien and hostile. The worker feels alienated from and antagonistic toward the entire system of private property through which the capitalist appropriates both the objects of production for his own enrichment at the expense of the worker and the worker’s sense of identity and wholeness as a human being.
Money is something that can either be used for the greater good of society, or it can be contorted into something that is detrimental to society, it all depends on whose hands that money happens to fall into. Human tendencies begin to change once people come to have money, the lavish and selfish lifestyle begins. Entitlement comes with having money because money gives people what they want which makes people think they are entitled to get everything they want. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald portrays that money is the root of all problems with can ultimately lead to loneliness and careless behavior.
For individual property to exist, there must be a means for individuals to appropriate the things around them. Locke starts out with the idea of the property of person; each person owns his or her own body, and all the labor that they perform with the body. When an individual adds their own labor, their own property, to a foreign object or good, that object becomes their own because they have added their labor. This appropriation of goods does not demand the consent of humankind in general, each person has license to appropriate things in this way by individual initiative.
Throughout John Locke’s, Second Treatise of Government, he uses several methods to substantiate his claims on the natural right to property. Locke’s view on property is one of the most fundamental and yet debated aspects of his works within his respective view on politics. Locke views property as one of humankind 's most important rights, contending with the right to life and the right to liberty. However, certain claims made by Locke regarding property are may be unfeasible, which could be deduced from the time period in which he lived. Some of Locke’s arguments appear to be carefully considered and well executed, while others lack the equality that Locke strives towards. John Locke’s theory of property, is a somewhat well supported claim
Money is the main source of power in the world, but in ways it can be viewed as good or bad depending on the situation. It has a negative connotation when mentioned by the word “acts”. “ Acts” means to perform a fictional role. Which shows that most things involving money are fake. Though humans associate being fake with being morally wrong,but its somehow acceptable if there is a greater power involved. Another definition for acts is to take action;do something. In this case to take an action can be either good or bad. There are many ways to come across money, but nobody cares if it is good or bad because it deals with a greater power.
John Locke is a seventeenth century philosopher who believed that government should be based around the people rather than the power of one person. Equality and property were two factors that Locke considered to be the key to a great society. Locke begins his writings with a discussion on individual property and how each man body is his own property. This leads Locke into the argument that man can obtain property only by using his own labor. an example Locke gives is the picking of an apple. The apple is the property of the man who used his labor to pick it. He goes on to say “A person may only acquire as many things in this way as he or she can reasonably use to their advantage”. With the discussion of property Locke leads into the discussion of trade and monetary value stating that it is natural of man to w...
Communism, socialism, and capitalism are the three basic forms of economical systems, each evident in the world. Although Karl Marx is portrayed as the father of communism, Marx is able to provide a substantial amount of information about the capitalistic world. In his work, “Capital (1867)”, Marx discusses the nature of commodities, wages, and the relationship between a worker and the capitalist economic system. As a result, Marx portrays workers as human beings who have been exploited in order to maximize production and profit in a capitalistic society. Although Karl Marx wrote “Capital (1867)” over a century ago, Marx’s arguments concerning the various uses of human labor, commodities, and values, have remained relevant in the United States
This paper discusses Adam Smith's and David Ricardo's view on the labor theory of value. It includes a discussion of the validity of the arguments they present in relation to social and Economic contexts. To the pursuance of this objective, the paper has explored five published articles available both in the internet and as hand copies.
product he creates. As a result labour is objectified, that is labour becomes the object of
“This division of labour, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another”
Today money is faith in the person paying us and belief in the person issuing the money he uses or the institution that honors his money. This trust has no end, it can be extended to a greater number of individuals. The establishment of money freed individuals from dependence on land as an essential resource for production and freed commerce from the need to barter and trade.... ... middle of paper ...
Karl Marx’s article titled Estranged Labor as found in his 1844 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts pays significant attention to the political economic system, which is commonly referred to capitalism. He further delves into nature of the political economy with a keen focus on how it has negatively impacted the worker or laborer. Therefore, the laborer forms the subject of his critical and detailed analysis as tries demonstrates the ill nature of the political economy. To start with Karl Marx portrays how the political economy as presented by its proponents has led to emergence of two distinct classes in society; the class of property owners and on the other hand, the class of property less workers. According to Karl Marx (2004), proponents of the political economy have introduced concepts such as private property and competition indicating without providing any form of analytical explanation but rather just expecting the society to embrace and apply such concepts. In particular, political economists have failed to provide a comprehensive explanation for division that has been established between capital and labor. Estranged Labor clearly depicts Marx’s dissatisfaction as well as disapproval towards the political economy indicating that proponents of such a system want the masses to blindly follow it without any form of intellectual or practical explanation. One area that Karl Marx demonstrates his distaste and disappointment in the article is worker or the laborer and how the worker sinks to not just a commodity but rather a wretched commodity (Marx, 2004). This is critical analysis of Karl Marx concept or phenomenon on the alienation of the worker as predicted in Estranged Labor in several aspects and how these concepts are ...
Money, the media of exchange for products and services, provides things people need, like food, clothing, shelter, or medicine. People spend most of their life looking for it. My parent for example, works from sunrise to sunset to obtain it. The more money people have the more benefits they can get, because they will be able to get a bigger and better houses, clothes, or food. Less money means stress in bill payments, gas prices, and food prices. With money, people can fulfill their material need. However, money cannot buy everything such as happiness, friendship and love, health, and appetite.
The contribution of labor to the production process can be amplified. Whenever potential workers obtain schooling and training, and whenever actual workers acquire new skills, labor’s contribution to productive output will increase. In other words, it is human effort, mental or physical. The reward for labor is labeled wages. Capital: When labor is applied to land to grow wheat, for instance, something else is used.
Karl Marx’s critique of political economy provides a scientific understanding of the history of capitalism. Through Marx’s critique, the history of society is revealed. Capitalism is not just an economic system in Marx’s analysis. It’s a “specific social form of labor” that is strongly related to society. Marx’s critique of capitalism provides us a deep understanding of the system to predict its pattern and protect ourselves from its negative sides.