Analysis Of Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud And John Stuart Mill

Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and John Stuart Mill are three authors who tackle the topic of freedom in unique ways, but their messages are fundamentally the same and further the ideas that we encountered in the esoteric texts as well as in The Matrix, most prominent of which is the claim that our freedom is simply an illusion. These texts differ from the esoteric texts in that they do not try to get us to believe in religious ideology, however they still suggest ways for us to better our lives. First, we have Karl Marx’s Capital: Critique of Political Economy and The Communist Manifesto, where we encounter the proletariat, or the working-class people regarded collectively. In these two texts, the latter of which was co-authored by Frederick Engels, …show more content…
This text challenges the notion that retention of freedom is necessary to keep us secure. According to Mill, people gave up some of their freedom to protect against political tyranny of overzealous rulers. However, now that this type of tyranny is done away with, we have the “tyranny of the majority.” This refers to that fact that the majority places its interests above anything else, resulting in some people becoming marginalized and lacking in some freedom compared to those in the majority. And this “tyranny of the majority” can be seen even in democratic nations. Many people associate democracy with liberty or freedom but as Mill reveals in this text, the two could not be more distinct. While it is true that democracy makes the liberty of the individual possible, it does not guarantee it. And that is how democratic nations like the United States end up with “tyranny of the majority.” But as someone asked the other day in class, why are there no revolutions even though people are still having their freedom infringed on? This is because people do not even realize that they are not free, and once again we see the theme of The Matrix repeating …show more content…
He addresses three types of liberty: liberty to think, liberty to pursue, and the freedom to plan our own lives. And he makes claims such as: a person has the liberty to act as they wish as long as the negative consequences of such actions will only be felt by that person, following a religious decree does not make a person morally sound, which contrasts with what we are told in the esoteric texts, and even though individuals should not have to give up their freedom in exchange for security, they should at least show respect to their fellow member of society in exchange for the protection that society