Consider these questions when reading the documents from the American and French Revolutions, as well as Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women.
How does each author define the nation? Who should be included and why?
What differences between the American and French Revolutions emerge from the documents? Similarities? What is the goal of the Revolution in each case?
How do Wollstonecraft and Robespierre radicalize revolutionary thought? Is there a difference between a radical and an extremist?
What sort of comparisons can you make between this week's reading and Kant?
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2 comments:
The difference between radicalism and extremism is how far away from the social norm each respective group goes. Radicals are very philosophical and thoughtful in their actions. They put a lot of thought into what they do, whether it be for or against the current social norm. They thoroughly think out all actions before proceeding. Extremists, I believe, work off of the radical’s ideas. However, they take what the radicals think and take it to absolute maximum. For example, let’s say that a radical group believes that the current president is not doing a good job. The group then decides that the president should be replaced by someone who has the country’s interests at heart. The extremist view of this would be that the president is not doing a good job and therefore the country should not have a president at all.
Radicals have, in my opinion, a better chance of cultivating a following. The ideas that they put forth are easily understood by the majority of the population. Even if people do not agree with their ideas, they understand how the radicals came up with said ideas. Extremists on the other hand do have following, however its much smaller than the radical groups. Since the extremists ideas are so far away from the social norm, they are far more abstract than the radical’s ideas. More abstract ideas are not as easily understood by the population and therefore do not persuade as many people as the radicals.
So I think you are saying that radicals could be qualified as "thinkers" and extremists as "doers?"
I think you're right that one of the differences between radicalism and extremism can be judged by how far each deviates from the social norm. Here's another way to think about it: extremists are those who carry a radical theory out to its logical conclusion, while radicals temper their arguments a bit more.
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