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How Do Marx And Douglass Understand Freedom As Non Domination

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Question 2 : ‘Marx and Douglass understand freedom to mean the same thing: freedom as non-domination’. Do you agree? Both Douglass and Marx define freedom to be ‘freedom as non-dominion’, however, whether they mean the exact same is debatable when comparing their works. The divergence in political beliefs between the two resonate in their beliefs about freedom, with Marx being a Communist and Douglass being a Republican, nevertheless they both understand freedom to be non-domination, although they define freedom as different things, making me agree with the statement to a degree. For both Marx and Douglass, freedom is understood to be about being free from dominion, however for Marx, it later becomes dependent on community and social co-operation …show more content…

This makes Marx’s main focus economic freedom from the weight of capitalism on the shoulders of the working classes. He defined freedom as a person's capacity to exert conscious and logical control over both their …show more content…

Marx's analysis of modern slavery was centred on the realisation that slaveowner capitalism was more dreadful than any other type of slavery that had ever existed. In his critiques of capitalism, Marx highlights the consequence of extreme labour to be alienation, with the main one being Alienation of Man from Man, which is made extremely evident in the slave trade, with non-white people becoming isolated from white people because of their labour. Similarly, Douglass found that the economic system of slavery, required the alienation of African Americans from their own identity to continue operating because the slaves could see how they were being oppressed but could not reject the only thing they knew. In Wage Labour and Capital, Karl Marx emphasises that the working class must be alienated from others, themselves, and their labour in order for the capitalist system to function and for the working class to remain unaware of the system they support. Despite having conflicting opinions on whether their respective economic systems can be perceived, Marx and Douglass both view their respective economic systems as unsustainable in their essays, Wage Labour and Capital and Life Narrative, respectively. Both Marx and Douglass saw an appeasement within their separate economic systems, with the inclusion of ‘holidays’ for slaves, in which they receive a brief

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Douglass and Lincoln’s common ground is to abolish slavery, but their discussions don’t always end in agreement. Both had disputes on the Constitution, the thoughts of colonization, and t both having diverse personalities. Lincoln sided in the original ways of the founding fathers to abolish slavery in the near future for the United States ‘development (Oakes 63) and relaxing the colonies with the use of liberated slaves (Oakes 190). While Douglass believed the Constitution as an antislavery document and a colonization should allow freed slaves should live peacefully in America. The aftermath of these disputes led to the weaken trust between Douglass and Lincoln, when working together, Douglass truly believed that Lincoln wasn’t active

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The Interpretation of Freedom in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, and Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black This essay will argue that the two African-American protagonists from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by Frederick Douglass, and Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, written by Harriet E. Wilson, have suffered lives without freedom for long, but eventually they find their way to achieve some freedom, by regaining control of their bodies and souls. Such freedom is limited, for they cannot escape or destroy the racist society that confines people’s free will, but it still can be regarded as a great success for them and other

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He considers that both democracy and freedom is both a joke and a contradiction. In his perspective, freedom and democracy isn’t given nor granted to everyone even if it’s promoted. Douglass concludes back on a positive note. He believes that anti-slavery views will eventually win over the people for slavery because many countries were over slavery in the middle 19th century.

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If the story is read this way, then Douglass is more directly saying that freedom is found in erudition, not in material

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Adam Smith, commonly referred to as the Father of Capitalism, would have focused specifically on the mention of the “pursuit of Happiness”, while Karl Marx would have based his structure on the mention on “Liberty”. Modern capitalism, as practiced in America, is centralized around the possibility to better oneself and one’s situation, which would ultimately bring what is perceived to be happiness. Meanwhile, Communism aligns itself with liberty, because under such a system, no man would ever be oppressed by inequality, and as such every man would be, in a sense,

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Douglass writes, “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty?” (1). Both Douglass and the audience obviously know the answer but Douglass puts an emphasis on how ironic it is that each man is entitled to liberty and justice but slavery is still in

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In the beginning Douglass thought of freedom as a place of euphoria and peace; he read books to help him learn how to read and write so he could get out of slavery and have freedom. When he was learning to read from the white children he stated “I wish I could be as free as they would be when they got to men”. He thought of his life and the only future for him was to be a “slave for life”. Towards the end “the silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal weakness”. Aiming for freedom gave him strength, but when he began reading and learning about freedom it “now appeared to disappear no more forever” and it caused him to become weak.

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Frederick Douglass’s quest for truth and meaning in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass depicts the link between knowledge and freedom. As a slave, Frederick Douglass was abused by his masters and restricted from any notion of learning truth. However, his slaveholder’s wife tried to teach him how to read. When her husband discovered this, he became extremely upset and informed her that by teaching a slave how to read, he would no longer want to be a slave. Frederick realized that the perpetuation of slavery was enforced through ignorance; knowledge and truth would be the means to his freedom.

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Many people do not know that freedom is more than just being legally free. In Douglass’ autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, after Frederick Douglass's owners death, he finds himself getting cruelly whipped by a man named Convey. When Douglass finally fights back, Convey leaves him alone. Freedom is the right to act, speak, and think whatever you have on your mind. Doesn’t matter what it might be, you are allowed to express yourself without criticism.

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At last, Douglass brings the point of freedom and justice the one person has every right to him than any other, and no man has the authority to rule over

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In order to make progress from the oppression upon the black community, Douglass advocates for people to take a stand on the struggle for freedom. Douglass implies that the people will have to fight for freedom by voicing their opinions. Douglass incorporates examples from slaves in other places that have overcome their oppressors in hopes of making it more evident that, indeed, there is a way out of oppression. The idea is that it must be done so by action and not merely by letting others take it upon them . It will not be an easy task, but it has to start off by recognizing that there is a problem.

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Marx and Arendt are two brilliant political theorists who pose different concerns, beliefs and ideals when it comes to the relationship between economics and freedom. Marx defines freedom as creative self- actualization which contrasts Arendt’s definition of freedom as worldly and eruptive action. Marx’s definition is more focused on the individual, which in turn will better society while Arendt is more focused on action as community. Marx believes in a society free from economic oppression by the elite while Arendt believes in one where poverty and politics do not meet. Economics and freedom, according to Marx, are intertwined in such a way that they cannot be separated.

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God and the forward march of history, Douglass believed, would bring the realization of truth, justice, and the brotherhood of man. As such, equality is not just necessary for the establishment of government but is also a requisite in maintaining a safe and stable nation. Most importantly, upon entering society individuals are required to alienate a modicum of freedom and liberty, but full equality can (theoretically) never be compromised. This, of course, will impact the state and inevitably require a

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Hunger for freedom “I have observed this in my experience of slavery,-that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free”(Douglass,pg.104). Have you ever been told that the only thing that you are good for is for free labor and that being alive is a privilege because of you honestly not even worth as much as you think because you 're not even counted as a human? That was pretty much what the three fifths compromise were saying, but let 's not get into that. What Douglass is trying to express in this passage is that once you get a taste of freedom and independence, you want more and more of it, but it is not as easy are just saying I want but more of the challenges you have to overcome all throughout his life as an African American slave ready to make a change in the world.

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In his life narrative, Frederick Douglass describes the economic system of slavery as needing the alienation of black Americans from their own identity to continue to function, where the slaves can see their oppression but cannot reject the one thing that they know. Karl Marx in Wage Labor and Capital explains the capitalist system as requiring the alienation of the working class from themselves, others and their work to keep the system going, so that the working class remains oblivious to the system they provide for. Despite their different views on whether their respective economic systems can be perceived, Douglass in his life narrative and Marx in his essay Wage Labor and Capital similarly view their economic systems as unsustainable because

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