Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Bakunin, and Nietzsche are often considered substantially different, if not completely divergent, thinkers. While each emphasizes different diagnoses and prescriiptions for quintessentially modern maladies, they also seem to have important underlying similarities.
In your papers, first identify the main themes and critiques of each of these thinkers and how these differ from each other. What are their views on abstract thinking, individualism, progress, democracy, equality, rights and freedom?
Then identify any similarities you can detect between them. Do they all have the same fundamental view of modernity (or assume some of the same things about it)? How do they interrogate the question of violence, “greatness”, and / or revolution? How do they view labor and / or struggle?
While you will not be able to summarize EVERY aspect of each one of these thinkers, you should endeavor to present the “highlights” and parsimoniously illustrate how each thinker reflects “modernity” in their own way. In your paper be sure to demonstrate an understanding of each of these thinkers and their intellectual context. Also, be sure to use textual evidence (quote directly and cite appropriately) to support your analysis.
