Marxism-Thaxis] Alan Carling's reply Charles Brown CharlesB at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us Wed Feb 20 07:44:50 MST 2002
Previous message: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fw: Monty Python on "Bombing for Peace" Next message: [Marxism-Thaxis] Alan Carling's synopsis of *The Proof of the Pudding: Reason and Value in Social Evolution* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> farmelantj at juno.com 02/20/02 04:55AM >>> --------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alan Carling <a.h.carling at Bradford.ac.uk> Carling says: The final set of questions you pose seem to me the central ones for any 21st Century egalitarian. My worry is essentially this: if Competitive Primacy is true (as I now think may be the case), do there exist egalitarian alternatives to capitalism which are capable of competitive survival against it? If the answer to this question is 'No', then (successful) Marxist theory has (ironically, or tragically) ruled out Marxian politics, and the Marxist/socialist/enlightenment egalitarian project is dead in the water. So I have a considerable personal and intellectual investment in the answer being 'Yes', and I regard the various market socialist proposals as promising candidates in this respect. But even if one or other of these proposed solutions could survive in the globally-competitive environment created by contemporary capitalism, can it be brought into existence by intentional political action? ^^^^^^^^^ Charles B: This competition with capitalism is the reason that the state cannot whither away in socialism until there are no more capitalist states. On the issue of intentional politics, the general answer is that with Marxism the question of intentionally shaping society turns into its opposite, i.e.it becomes possible to consciously guide the development of society, contra Carling's general proposition against Intentional Primacy or "Human Intention" in his four ways that the appearance of design can come about. In other words, Marxism is an objective understanding of human society. Once one has an objective science of human society ( as no previous society did) it becomes possible to consciously and intentionally guide its development. In other words, Marx and Engels's discovery allows the overcoming of one of their propositions concerning all previous society. To apply Engels approach on science in general, to know something is to be able to make it. Once we know society , we can make it. So socialism can intentionally compete with capitalism. cc: Alan Carling To: Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com> Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2002 18:30:04 +0000 Subject: Re: Selectionism: Me, Popper, and Hayek Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20020102183004.00a4d310 at pop.brad.ac.uk> Received: from mx6.boston.juno.com (mx6.boston.juno.com [64.136.24.38]) by m11.boston.juno.com with SMTP id AAA8DGWPXAZYQPLJ for <farmelantj at juno.com> (sender <a.h.carling at Bradford.ac.uk>); Wed, 2 Jan 2002 13:30:13 -0500 (EST) Received: from hydrogen.cen.brad.ac.uk (hydrogen.cen.brad.ac.uk [143.53.238.3]) by mx6.boston.juno.com with SMTP id AAA8DGWPXAUHFBLJ for <farmelantj at juno.com> (sender <a.h.carling at Bradford.ac.uk>); Wed, 2 Jan 2002 13:30:13 -0500 (EST) Received: from acarling.brad.ac.uk (max-33.dial.brad.ac.uk [143.53.239.33]) by hydrogen.cen.brad.ac.uk (8.11.3/8.11.3) with SMTP id g02IUBY05895 for <farmelantj at juno.com>; Wed, 2 Jan 2002 18:30:11 GMT X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Return-Path: <a.h.carling at Bradford.ac.uk> X-Sender: ahcarlin at pop.brad.ac.uk In-Reply-To: <20011225.091555.-517799.0.farmelantj at juno.com> Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20020102183004.00a4d310 at pop.brad.ac.uk> Dear Jim, I was very pleased to receive your perceptive message, especially as it was apparently sent on Christmas morning (Maybe you were trying sensibly to escape from the festivities!). The questions you pose are very pertinent ones, to which I don't have any very satisfactory answers. As you will have gathered, I reached the position that the only plausible version of historical materialism is a selectionist one through an engagement with Jerry Cohen's work, and Analytical Marxism more generally. It was only subsequent to that realisation/discovery that I saw a parallel with the work of the 'bourgeois' social selectionists you mention. I think Dennett is wonderful on the general power of the selectionist paradigm, Dawkins is always interesting, and Blackmore is slightly derivative. The 'meme' idea I do not find especially persuasive however, and by far the most impressive of the bourgeois selectionists in my view is W.G.Runciman. I'm in the middle of writing a critique of his Treatise on Social Theory, and I'd be happy to send you a copy when it's finished if you are interested. Although I've obviously known about Popper and Hayek in general terms for a long time, I've only recently appreciated their direct relevance, and I don't know enough about them to answer your question. It may be that my gardening is not all that different from Popper's piecemeal social engineering, and I will no doubt have to give this issue serious attention in any book that appears. The final set of questions you pose seem to me the central ones for any 21st Century egalitarian. My worry is essentially this: if Competitive Primacy is true (as I now think may be the case), do there exist egalitarian alternatives to capitalism which are capable of competitive survival against it? If the answer to this question is 'No', then (successful) Marxist theory has (ironically, or tragically) ruled out Marxian politics, and the Marxist/socialist/enlightenment egalitarian project is dead in the water. So I have a considerable personal and intellectual investment in the answer being 'Yes', and I regard the various market socialist proposals as promising candidates in this respect. But even if one or other of these proposed solutions could survive in the globally-competitive environment created by contemporary capitalism, can it be brought into existence by intentional political action? My impression is that the exponents of market socialism do not generally engage with this crucial question of transition (which brings Popper back into the frame). The problem is that revolutionary socialists had (a few still have!) a dogmatically-held and ultimately indefensible (though personally sustaining) set of answers to this question, centred around the proletariat, the party apparatus, and their favourite version of Leninism (or Trotskyism). Analytical Marxists and others have rightly abandoned the dogmatism and Leninism, but they haven't elaborated any alternative theory of political agency. Neither have I, but this is the problem on which my sights are now set firmly. I would hope to say something useful about it in the book. The fundamental point is that the theory of political agency (whatever it is) must be woven from the same cloth as the theory of social evolution, since to act politically is to intervene in the reproduction of social structures. Perhaps I could close by asking some questions of you. You are obviously very knowledgeable about the debates. Do you work in an academic context? If so (or even if not), where are you located? And how did your own interest in all this arise? Happy New Year Alan PS. Do you know about the journal Imprints, in which these issues are debated from time to time? (www.imprints.org.uk) This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis