PSIR Test Series

(Sectional Test-5)
Model Answer
Q.1) “ All men are intellectuals”. -Antonio Gramsci. Comment. (10 Marks)

Demand of the question: to explain Gramsci’s view on intellectuals and how they are instrumental
in breaking the hegemony of the dominant class. As this is a 10 marker question therefore the
candidate is expected to directly jump to the demand of the question without going for a general
introduction which is otherwise expected for a 15 marker question.

Structure:
 Introduction: explain about intellectuals
 Body : explain Gramsci’s view of intellectuals elaborating on the type of individuals
 Conclusion: explain how intellectuals are responsible for breaking the status quo/hegemony of
the dominant class.

Intellectuals are a broader group of social agents who are responsible for creating, maintaining and
expanding the hegemony of the particular class they represent. They are the ‘organisers of culture’
who exercises technical and directive capacities of society.

In the words of Gramsci, “all men are intellectuals but they are not intellectuals by social function.”
He is of the view that every man outside the sphere of his professional activity carries on some kind
of intellectual endeavour. For him intellectuals are people who are responsible for creating,
maintaining and expanding the hegemony of the particular class they represent. Gramsci visualised
that intellectuals are decisive in articulating and disseminating the outlooks of the classes for
which they speak, in a way that goes beyond the simple expression of economic interests.

Gramsci categorises intellectuals into two groups:

1. Organic Intellectuals: They rise with the rise of a particular class. They are malleable. They
represent a particular sociological trait and have class interests. They are involved in production
as well as articulation of aspirations of the class and develop counter hegemony. They include
the class of professionals like doctors, engineers ,managers ,civil servants etc. Organic
intellectuals are entrepreneurs and organisers of the mass population. They organise a new
culture, social class, and they can act as a voice for the working class. Organic intellectuals are
special individuals who give a voice to those who need one and can inspire a group of people to
fight for something worth fighting for.
2. Traditional Intellectuals: This class of intellectual doesn’t belong to any class but they have
maintained historical continuity based on custom and traditions. For example- church fathers.
They are static and their rise is not related to the rise of a particular class.

Gramsci has accorded a very important role to the intellectuals. He wanted the intellectuals to pose
counter hegemony to the dominant class. It is a continuous process of transaction, negotiation,
compromise. Worker class should develop the coalition of the subaltern class ,try to side traditional
intellectuals to their side and develop their own organic intellectuals so as to develop counter
hegemony against capitalism. In the words of Gramsci, intellectuals are the deputies of dominant
groups who provide philosophy as well as advice for the masses.

Hegemony is an ideology and to break it, revolution is required. Organic intellectuals have to bring a
protracted war that requires them to understand the system that creates hegemony of the
dominant class. Workers need to form their own band of leadership (by the coalition of traditional
and organic leadership). Generation of consent is a gradual process. In democratic countries, the
dominant class rules by a considerable amount of consent of the ruled. In short they play a
prominent role in the war of position.

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Q.2) LOCKE’S SOCIAL CONTRACT (10 Marks)

Introduction: Define Social Contract Theory and its relation with state.
Social Contract Theory treats the state as the product of the mutual agreement of men, created with
a definite purpose, to serve certain social needs. According to this theory state is an artificial
institution and not a natural one. It is the product of will of the society. Locke being a liberal thinker
has also given the concept of social contract like Hobbes and Rousseau.
Body: To elaborate on the social contract theory explain the human nature, state of nature and
terms of contract as given by Locke.

Human Nature:
According to Locke, Man is by nature rational. Locke gives the optimistic view of human nature. He
states that man has “enlightened self-interest”.
Unlike Hobbes, reason dominates in man rather than passion.

State of Nature:
It is a state of “peace, goodwill and mutual assistance”. It is a state of liberty and people obey the
law of nature. For the security and stability of the state , people surrender their natural rights to the
state except the three rights which are “Right to life, liberty and property.”

Terms of Contract:
Locke says that state is a result of two contracts: 1. Formation of Civil society and 2. Formation of
government.
People leave the state of nature and enter into civil or political society by means of a contract. Locke
places the government under the control of the society which shows that there is no scope for
absolutism of state.
Since the Government is to protect the right to property, the government may not take or
redistribute property without consent.
Locke postulates conditional and partial surrender of natural rights as some natural rights are
fundamental and cannot be given up.

Conclusion: Criticise Locke's theory and end on a positive note.

Marxist scholars criticise Locke's theory of social contract as it becomes the basis for capitalist rule
over the society. But it cannot be ignored that Hobbes' social contract theory portrayed him as he
begins with being individualist but ends being absolutist and Locke is portrayed as individualist out
and out. In the present context the Social Contract tradition shows that people are making state and
hence provides for more stability.

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Q.3) Individualism is inherent in Hobbes absolutist ideology. Comment. (10 Marks)

Intro –Define Individualism

Individualists are those who claims that individual dignity, autonomy & judgment should be full
recognition while making public policy and decisions. Hobbes is the first person to logically that a
man is individualistic by nature.
Body-
Hobbes as an individualist
Hobbes is individualist in both the sense that is in methodological as well as normative. Hobbesian
view about the human nature and motives constitute the foundation of his entire political
philosophy. Based on the ‘resolutive – compositive’ methodology, Hobbes prefers to study man as
an individual before examining man’s behaviour as a member of the society.
According to Hobbes, man is utilitarian as well as individualistic by nature. All human actions are
shaped by the movement of particles in brain and one cannot comprehend the movement inside
others brain. Thus, Man can be aware of only his pleasures and pains, which makes him
individualistic & self centred.

Hobbes Individualism is inherent in his absolutist ideology

Superficially it may appear contradictory that he is individualist and absolutist at the same time.
However deeper analysis shows that he is most consistent thinker. Since man is extremely
individualistic by nature, that man has no option but to live under the absolute authority of state. It
is for the protection of individual that the absolute state has been created. He does not make any
effort to change the individual, he only create such system so that the individualistic nature of man
can be served.

Hobbes has given the right of self preservation to man .He puts restriction on state to take away
men’s life in an arbitrary manner. Since individualistic nature of man and protection of individual is
his prime concern of his theory, that is why Sabine held that Hobbes is the greatest of all
individualist.

According to Sabine, the absolute power of the sovereign a theory with which Hobbes name is
associated was really the necessary complement of his individualism. This is because the state is not
an end in itself, rather a means to the end of individual security and welfare. According to Hobbes,
man has transferred all of his natural rights to state but has retained the natural right to life or self
preservation. Hobbes argues that the obligation to obey the sovereign remains only so long as the
sovereign has the power to protect its subjects and it disappears when the state power losses the
capacity to defend them.

Conclusion
Therefore, in this way, for Sabine, individualism appears to be the most striking feature of Hobbesian
political philosophy. In the same line, Nisbet argues that despite the rigorousness of his theory, it is
the individual whom Hobbes has in his mind as the embodiment of virtue. Hobbes did not seek the
extermination of individual right but their fulfillment. Nisbet held that in Hobbes ,the greatest claim
of the absolute state lay in its power to create an environment for the individuals to pursue his
natural ends. It is for this reason, Hobbes is considered to be greatest of all individualists.

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Q.4) J. S. Mill's ideas on women suffrage. (10 Marks)

INTRODUCTION
J. S. Mill has been described as one of the most liberal classical modern thinkers. Other than
Plato he was the only thinker who has discussed women's issues in such intricate detail. He was
deeply influenced by his wife Harriet Mill, which formed the basis of his thoughts on women.

BODY
Mill in his book “On Subjugation of Women” (1869) has elaborated on his ideas on women. He
has remarked that slavery has been abolished in all rungs of society save the mistress of every
house. He has advocated equal rights for women including the suffrage rights. The reasons that that
he gave for perpetual inequality of women were as follows:
● It has become a universal practice over a period of time.
● Man living in equality with women was never practised.
● Slavery continued to the despotism of the slave holders but women’s subjugation continued
because all men had interest in women’s subjugation.
● The myth of natural inferiority of women’s nature to that of men
● Women themselves enjoyed subjugation.

Some of the benefits that he highlighted by giving women equal rights were
● Family would no longer remain a school of despotism. Democratic citizenship demands equality
of women for the family.
● It leads to the doubling of the mass of mental faculties. Men in workplace would perform better
because of competition from their female colleagues.
● Women enjoying equality will have a better influence on mankind. Under relations of
subordination women assert their will in all sorts of perverse ways.
● Women’s equality would ensure happiness to them that would satisfy the utilitarian principle of
Mill.

CONCLUSION
His above thoughts on women were the reflection of the liberal doctrine that he had followed
extensively. He had established the continuity between personal and private. Mill argued that
without the reform of the patriarchal system of family it would be impossible to firmly ground
democracy. Thus, it is rightly said that Mill not only advocated suffrage rights for women for the
establishment of democracy but said that the political/public sphere will remain shaky unless
democratic citizens are created in egalitarian families.

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Q.5) “Men being by nature all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of his estate
and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent.” (Locke). Elucidate.
(15 Marks)

Demand- Basically explain Locke's conception of limited state as their keywords are elucidated.

Structure:
● Introduce with book, school of thought and basic idea of Lockean state.
● Body- Give background and elaborate on his ideas with emphasis on consent
● Conclude with contemporary linkage/relevance/significance etc.
Locke, also known as ‘Father of liberalism', in his 'Second Treatise of Government' has highlighted
how natural rights have primacy over state authority. He considers the state as a post-social
phenomenon, thereby envisaging a state limited by the rights provided to man by nature.

Locke witnessed a peaceful transformation of absolute monarchy to parliamentary democracy

(Glorious revolution). As a result of which, he developed an optimistic view of human nature with
primacy to reason over appetite. Hence, Locke rejected the theory of absolute authority of the state.

Unlike Hobbes, where the state of nature was a 'state of war of all against all' (as appetite
dominated reason); the state of nature as per Locke is a state of peace, mutual assistance and
goodwill. In this natural state, people enjoyed natural rights like the right to life, liberty and
property. They were able to do so because of the presence of natural law. As per Locke, ‘reason’ is
that law which guides man in the state of nature.

For Locke, government is not a necessity, but a matter of convenience. Political sovereign is a party
to the social contract. Locke laid great emphasis on the idea that the chief end or purpose for which
a state or commonwealth is formed is making secure to the citizens the natural right to life, liberty,
and property that they had in the state of nature. Locke calls them inalienable rights which cannot
be infringed upon by the state. It cannot make any such law which deprives a person from his life,
liberty and property. This is because man has not provided his consent to transfer these rights to the
state in the contract.
Hence, the state is bound to act as per the will of the people. The state is envisaged as a trust and
people as trustees. Trust has to act according to the wishes of trustees.
In case, the state performs against the consent of the people, people will have the right to revolt.
However, Locke hopes for a peaceful revolution because he sees citizens as rational and have got the
right to freedom of speech and expression under the contract.

This way, Locke emerges as a theorist of consent. Unlike Filmer, who interpreted the right of rulers
as a personal gift from God (Divine rights theory of state), Locke held that political authority
becomes legitimate only when it is based on consent. The relevance of his views can be seen by the
fact that they served as an intellectual precursor to neo-liberal scholars like Nozick. Because of such
conception of a limited state by Locke, today it has become the dominant discourse not just in
political theory but also in international forums like the UNHRC.

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Q.6) Explain Hannah Arendt’s views on Totalitarianism (15 Marks)

Demand of the question: This being a 15 marker question expects a detailed view of Hannah
Arennd’ts view on totalitarianism. A general introduction about Hannah Arendt can be provided as
well.

Structure:
● Introduction: Give a general introduction about Hannah Arendt.
● Body: elaborate on her views on totalitarianism. Also include criticism of her ideas.
● Conclusion: elaborate on her views are beneficial to understand the modern forms of
totalitarianism.

Hannah Arendt enjoys a rare designation of being a female political philosopher in a male
dominated discipline. She is regarded as a heterodox thinker in the sense that her political
philosophy doesn’t belong to any systematic philosophy. Thus, it is often described as thinking
without barriers.
Arend’ts view on totalitarianism is expressed in her first major work The Origins of
Totalitarianism (1951). Arendt saw totalitarianism as a system of government which appears in a
world where men no longer find reality itself bearable, owing to the destruction of the public world
that formerly gave meaning and significance to their life. Totalitarianism provided them an escape
from loneliness into a world of certainty and intelligibility, but it also induced them to sacrifice
reality in favour of fiction.
To explain her theory she has explained the period of Nazism and Stalinism. She described
Totalitarianism as totalitarianism. The essence of totalitarianism is so intense that those who
experienced totalitarianism can only explain it. The totalitarianism exerted in Nazism and Fascism
cemented the view that violence was not a means but an end. Totalitarianism controls the soul. It is
based on myths. Ideology and terror are the true instruments of totalitarian state. Differences of
thought are treated as wrong. Slowly it acquires support of the masses and the minority turns into
scapegoats. For example the myth of linkage of the German race with the Aryan race. Masses turn
out to be superfluous entities. Totalitarianism hence finds its base among the masses. This leads to
separation of masses from reality and hence they turn out to be atomized and separated and hence
isolated.
In her concept of banality of evil, Eichmann has been projected as a product of totalitarian
government. Totalitarianism aims to seek total domination and destroy tradition. Totalitarian
leaders project themselves as god that is omnipotent, who can never be wrong. It leads to failure or
absence of imaginative capacities that make the human and moral dimension of an activity
unthinkable. Therefore critical thinking is required to overcome totalitarianism.
Totalitarian leaders play the card of ‘self respect’. Hence the masses feel vulnerable and
hence find solace under the totalitarian leaders. They go for the politics of the majority and look for
soft targets. Totalitarian states are managed via a centralised bureaucracy. These parties have a
multilayered structure where. The inner layer of these parties consists of the core elite class and is
hence distanced from the masses. This alienation of masses can be reduced by civic republicanism
that is by participation of the masses in politics.
Arendt has been criticised as she equates direct citizen deliberation with the exercise of
political freedom. This is unworkable in the context of modern mass societies as it is quite complex.
Her elevation of politics to the apex of human goods and goals has also been challenged, demoting it
as other modes of human action and self-realisation to subordinate status.
In spite of the above criticism, Arendt's analysis of totalitarianism has been one of the most
original and challenging that helps to understand contemporary totalitarian regimes as well.

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Q.7) Elaborate on Plato's ideal state. (15 Marks)

Demand of the question: This question expects the candidate to give a detailed view on Plato’s
idea of Ideal State.

Structure:
● Introduction: give a general introduction about Plato,his time ,space and context in which he
built upon his concept of ideal state.
● Body: Elaborate on how Plato developed his Theory of ideal state and the underlying reasons
for that.
● Conclusion: Give Criticism of Plato’s conception of Ideal State.

Plato, father of political philosophy, has given his theory of the “ideal state”in his book “The
Republic”. Plato’s was influenced by the then prevailing circumstances in the state of Athens. Athens
was under political crisis. Athens was suffering from political instability. Political instability results
into political weakness. Athens lost to Sparta. There were inequalities with respect to distribution of
wealth. Most of the problems of Athens according to Plato were related to the system of
democracy.Plato believed that democracy is the“rule of ignorance”. To overcome this and to make
Athens an ideal state Plato came up with his theory in the Republic. His theory of the ideal state also
culminates in the conception of“Justice”. For Plato, the ideal state is based on the principle of
justice. For Plato, justice is ‘functional specialisation’. Each unit of the society performs its specific
task. Thus, different demands of society develop interdependence. This interdependence results in
cohesiveness in the society. Principles of justice demand that knowledge should have supreme
position insociety.ForPlato,“virtue is knowledge”.Thus, Plato establishes the institution
of“Philosopher King”.States ruled by the philosopher king are virtuous states. Plato comments that
until philosophers are rulers or rulers have the spirit of philosophy problems of political life cannot
be resolved. Hence,Plato’s Ideal state is a state where knowledge rules. Education is a means to
achieve excellence. Education is a main tool to establish an ideal state. For Plato, providing
education is the most important duty of the state.After completing 50 years of educational training a
person will become eligible for becoming philosopher king. Plato was also disturbed due to rampant
corruption prevailing in Athens. He found the root cause of the corruption in the institutions of
family and private property.Hence,Plato provides a system of Communism of property and family for
the Guardian Class. Karl Popper criticises Plato as the chief totalitarian theorist of the ancient world.
In contemporary times the likes of Nassim Nicholas Taleb has been critical of the Platonic mode of
philosophising.

Though Plato’s theory of the“Ideal State”remained a“Utopia” and he has been criticised extensively
in modern times, yet he holds a significant place in the history of Western Political thought.
Considering Plato’s contribution towards the discipline of politics, Ralph Waldo Emerson goes to the
extent of declaring that “Plato is philosophy and philosophy is Plato ''.

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Q.8) “Capitalists dig their own graves”. Explain the following statement in line with Marx’s analysis
of capitalism. (20 Marks)

Demand of the question: This question expects the candidate to give a detailed view of Marx’s
understanding of Capitalism.
Structure:
● Introduction: give a general introduction about Marx.
● Body: Elaborate on his analysis of capitalism.
● Conclusion: elaborate on the contemporary significance of Marx’s analysis of capitalism.

Karl Marx is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary, whose works inspired the
foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. No other philosopher has such an
influence like Karl Marx. It is because of the ideas of Karl Marx that stated that the world was divided
into two blocs. There is not a single person on the globe who has not been affected by the ideas of
Marx. Among the western ideologies, there is a single ideology after the name of a person. Marx in
his book “Das Kapital” gave the most comprehensive analysis of capitalism. He has defined
capitalism as the private ownership of the means of production. Subsequently Marx has forwarded
the reason that made capitalism the dominant ideology of the world.
Some of the reasons are as follows:
● Capitalism ushered an era of technology that revolutionised the means of production and
brought remarkable economic progress.
● Capitalism brought in cosmopolitanism and internationalism as the backward nations served as
markets for the capitalist.
● It led to urbanisation. Marx said that peasants came out of the “idiocy of rural life”. In Spite of
the above reasons, Marx has stated that capitalism has crumbled under its own weight.
He has highlighted the following reasons for destruction:
● Capitalism creates contradiction between man and society. The driving force of capitalism is
production which is greed driven rather than need driven. This phenomena has given rise to cut
throat competition.
● The desire for profit forces the capitalist to keep the cost of production low. As a result the
workers are given low wages.
● Exploitation of the proletariat can be further measured with the help of surplus value theory
where the capitalist squeezes the working class to extract the last drop of profit.
● Capitalism is synonymous with technology revolution. As a result it leads to job loss and hence
the bargaining power of the worker reduces. The more capitalism advances the more
contradictory it becomes. And hence exploitation keeps on increasing.
● Capitalism leads to alienation of the worker. Division of labour and specialisation of skills makes
the worker a specialist, preventing the full development of talent.
● Capitalism faces cycles of boom and bust. This leads to joblessness. This further leads to the
slowdown of the economy.
Hence capitalist dig their own graves which gives rise to communist revolution. Hence due to these
contradictions and inconsistencies, capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction. Exploitation,
misery of the workers increase due to increasing monopolies of the capitalist. This leads to
revolution which further leads to emancipation and freedom. Marx’s analysis of capitalism has
proved to be phenomenal in the later analysis of capitalism. Terry Eagleton has elaborated that post
2008 how the ideas of Marx regarding capitalism have become even more relevant.

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Q.9) Explain Idealist elements in Machiavellian thought. (20 Marks)
Context- Unconventional question to take the students by surprise. Similar to 2022 paper 2 where
UPSC asked about similarities between realism and marxism instead of differences.
Structure:
● Start with broad dimensions where we can find idealism in Machiavellian ideas.
● Body- explain those dimensions one by one.
● Conclusion- Establish how idealist elements are present but get overshadowed by realist elements.

“The renaissance, though it produced no important theoretical philosophers, it produced one man of
supreme eminence i.e. Machiavelli." - Bertrand Russell
Machiavelli, based on his work 'The Prince', is famously known as the father of realism. However,
one can find idealist elements in the reasons for his realist recommendations as well in the expected
outcomes.
Affected by the instability in Italy of his times, Machiavelli wanted stability in state and security for
the nation in order to develop Italy as an ideal state. For this end, Machiavelli gave primacy to state
interest over self interest (similar to Plato and Aristotle). His realist recommendations such as dual
morality of Prince, army of nationalists over army of mercenaries serve this idealist purpose which is
stability and security for the state.
Machiavelli in his book 'Discourses', suggests that such security and stability will ultimately lead to a
virtuous society with virtuous people. In this work, he had recognised the positive elements in
human nature which he himself criticised in “The Prince” as selfish, greedy and ungrateful.
In this book, he also highlighted the need for republican government whenever people are virtuous.
He recommends rule of law, citizens participating in affairs of state (similar to civic republicanism of
Aristotle) ultimately resulting in a peaceful and virtuous society.
Moreover, the Machiavellian conception of a strong prince is itself based on an idealist assumption.
Machiavelli assumes that the Prince can sacrifice all his personal ambitions for the nation. He
expects the prince to overcome his basic human nature which Machiavelli himself called fickle
minded. His expectation that the prince must subjugate his personal morality to pursue dual
morality reflects conception of an idealistic prince.
In addition, he expects his Prince to be a lion and fox at the same time. While there exists a realist
element of power reflected in the strength of the lion, the cleverness and knowledge of the fox
draws parallels with Plato's philosopher king. Even other idealist advices given by Machiavelli to the
Prince included effort to try and find goodness in every profession, to not touch the property and
women of his citizens.
This reflects how Machiavelli did not restrict himself to what is and rather went on to prescribe
what ought to be, reflecting a sense of universalism and transcendentalism in his work.
Hence, on a deeper analysis, we see that compartmentalising Machiavelli into one box of hardcore
realism (as done by Benedetto Croce) can be a myopic understanding. He should rather be called 'an
open realist and a hidden idealist'.

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