PARAGRAPH,WORDS AND MEANINGS

0
25

Equality For What?

In 1820 the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his magnificently crafted Philosophy of Right, had written with some despair of the moral squalor and of the ravages that poverty brings in its wake. The state of poverty, he argued, is not an aberration, it is a product of industrial society, of the overproduction and under consumption which marks this social order. But it is precisely society that banishes its victims to the twilight zone of collective life. Here, removed from the advantages of solidarity that civil society offers, the poor are reduced to a heap of fragmented atoms, rabble, poebel. When the standard of living of a large mass of people falls below a certain subsistence level, he wrote, we see a loss of the sense of right and wrong, of honesty and of self-respect. “Against nature man can claim no right, but once society is established, poverty immediately takes the form of a wrong done to one class by another.”Hegel suggests that poverty is a social phenomenon. One, society is complicit in the creation and recreation of poverty. Destitution, that is, is the outcome of a skewed economy. Two, poverty breeds unfortunate consequences, such as suffering, which seriously demoralises human beings. Three, the existence of large numbers of the poor pose a direct threat to the social order, simply because the poor are (justly) resentful of their exclusion from the benefits of society.We should be seriously reflecting on Hegel’s criticism of a society that refuses to correct the wrongs it has heaped on its own people, in the light of the research findings of the economist Thomas Piketty and his colleague Lucas Chancel.

MEANINGS AND WORDS

1) Despair

Meaning: The complete loss or absence of hope.

Example:A voice full of self-hatred and despair.

Synonym: Hopelessness, Desperation

Antonym: Hope, Joy

2) Squalor

Meaning: The state of being extremely dirty and unpleasant, especially as a result of poverty or neglect.

Example:They lived in squalor and disease.

Synonym: Dirt, Filth

Antonym: Cleanliness

3) Ravages

Meaning: The destructive effects of something.

Example:His face had withstood the ravages of time.

Synonym: Damaging effects

4) Aberration

Meaning: A departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically an unwelcome one.

Example:They described the outbreak of violence in the area as an aberration.

Synonym: Anomaly, Deviation

5) Twilight zone

Meaning: A situation or conceptual area that is characterized by being undefined, intermediate, or mysterious.

Example:The twilight zone between the middle and working classes.

6) Solidarity

Meaning: Unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.

Example:Factory workers voiced solidarity with the striking students.

Synonym: Unanimity, Unity

8) Destitution

Meaning: Poverty so extreme that one lacks the means to provide for oneself.

Example:The family faced eviction and destitution.

Synonym: Poverty, Impoverishment

Antonym: Wealth

9) Skewed

Meaning: Make biased or distorted in a way that is regarded as inaccurate, unfair, or misleading; suddenly change direction or position.

Example:The curriculum is skewed towards the practical subjects.

10) Resentful

Meaning: Feeling or expressing bitterness or indignation at having been treated unfairly.

Example:He was angry and resentful of their intrusion.

Synonym: Aggrieved, Indignant

Antonym: Satisfied, Contented