When Marx made the argument below, was he arguing against a specific argument made by specific thinker that he believed needed to be rebutted? Was there someone out there arguing that human action is not planned (or perhaps the better word is "pre-imagined")?
I hasten to add that the argument that (1) because human labor is planned (or "pre-imagined"), and (2) a capitalist economy is not centrally planned, capitalism is contrary to human nature, is a complete non-sequitor. David Shemano -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Charles Brown Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 4:08 AM To: Forum for the discussion of theoretical issues raised by Karl Marx and the thinkers he inspired; marxist-debate; a-list; lbo-talk; pen-l Subject: [Pen-l] Why Marxists consider a planned economy in accord with human nature A la Karl Marx, the distinct characteristic of human labor is that it is planned. This is part of the "sapiens" or rationality or wisdom of _homo sapiens_. (Sapiens, a Latin word meaning wise) The anarchy of production of capitalism is contrary to our human nature and original species wisdom. Thus, a main feature of the Soviet efforts was to plan the whole ( "centralized" planning means planning the whole; holism or the inter-connectedness of the whole is a principle of dialectical logic). Of course, planning the whole involves reciprocal and continuous communication between the center , representing the whole ,and the parts, regions, cities, countries' and continuous adjustments of the plan. Any shortcomings in Soviet historical practice do not refute the theoretical correctness of the policy. CB "A spider conducts operations that resemble those of a weaver, and a bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality. At the end of every labour-process, we get a result that already existed in the imagination of the labourer at its commencement." Marx's _Capital_ Vol. I: " Labour is, in the first place, a process in which both man and Nature participate, and in which man of his own accord starts, regulates, and controls the material re-actions between himself and Nature. He opposes himself to Nature as one of her own forces, setting in motion arms and legs, head and hands, the natural forces of his body, in order to appropriate Nature's productions in a form adapted to his own wants. By thus acting on the external world and changing it, he at the same time changes his own nature. He develops his slumbering powers and compels them to act in obedience to his sway. We are not now dealing with those primitive instinctive forms of labour that remind us of the mere animal. An immeasurable interval of time separates the state of things in which a man brings his labour-power to market for sale as a commodity, from that state in which human labour was still in its first instinctive stage. We pre-suppose labour in a form that stamps it as exclusively human. A spider conducts operations that resemble those of a weaver, and a bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality. At the end of every labour-process, we get a result that already existed in the imagination of the labourer at its commencement. He not only effects a change of form in the material on which he works, but he also realises a purpose of his own that gives the law to his modus operandi, and to which he must subordinate his will. And this subordination is no mere momentary act. Besides the exertion of the bodily organs, the process demands that, during the whole operation, the workman's will be steadily in consonance with his purpose. This means close attention. The less he is attracted by the nature of the work, and the mode in which it is carried on, and the less, therefore, he enjoys it as something which gives! play to his bodily and mental powers, the more close his attention is forced to be. " _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
