Is Marxism deterministic ? http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2008w34/msg00041.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [A-List] Is Marxism deterministic ? From: "Charles Brown" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may be interested in this further exchange on my article, that may further clarify some of the arguments: http://www.isreview.org/issues/59/letters.shtml. --PG On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 4:47 PM, Charles Brown < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Is Marxism deterministic? > > > ISR Issue 58, March-April 2008 > > > CRITICAL THINKING > > > Is Marxism deterministic? > > by Phil Gasper > > -clip- > > This was the argument of the philosopher Karl Popper, who claimed that > Marxism is unscientific because it "is not refutable by any conceivable > event." > > ^^^^ > CB: On this Popper ignores a very big historical fact: the occurrence > of the Russian Revolution and other socialist revolutions.The > falsifiable proposition that makes Marxism scientific is : There will be > socialist revolutions. > > If there never were socialist revolutions , Marxism would be falsified. > So, not only is Marxism falsifiable, refuting Popper's claims concerning > its "scientific" nature, but Marxism is significantly _verified_, i.e. > not falsified. > > Marxism does _not_ claim that there cannot be counter-revolutions. > > According to Popper: > In some of its earlier formulations.[the] predictions [of Marxist > theory] were testable, and in fact falsified. > > ^^^^ > CB: And some Marxist proposition were testable and _verified_, contra > Popper, who was sitting there with the Russian Revolution right before > his very eyes. This suggests that Popper's activities verified another > minor Marxist proposition: The ruling ideas of every age are the ideas > of its ruling classes. Popper acted as an intellectual servant of the > ruling bourgeoisie in ignoring the existence of the Russian Revolution > in his "theory" as applied to Marxism. > This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
