Louis is right. Marx moved away from previous "stagist" theories of history (such as that of Smith). Instead of stages, more and more Marx's conceptions centered on the contrast between capitalism and its unending drive to accumulate surplus-value and capital and other social formations, which were oriented toward use-value production.
On 4/26/07, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I believe that there was a general understanding of historical stages before Marx and Engels ever put pen to paper. The "4 stage" theory of history was widely accepted in 17th and 18th century Europe. I alluded to Lord Kames and William Robertson the other day, but these two are just the tip of the iceberg. For the whole story, I recommend Ronald L. Meek's "Social Science and the Ignoble Savage" (Cambidge, 1976). Meek might be known to many of you for his book on the labor theory of value published by Monthly Review press. "Social Science and the Ignoble Savage" is essential reading for those who are trying to come to grips with the Eurocentric character of much of Marx and Engels' writings. Meek makes a very important point. Central to the writings of 17th and 18th century social science was a belief that American Indians were the prime example of the 'first' or 'earliest' stage of human social development. Unlike those like Rousseau who made the case for a 'noble savage,' these historians and philosophers thought that American Indians represented the worst humanity had to offer. Since American Indian society was on the lowest stage of human development, its disappearance would represent progress. John Locke was one such thinker and his justifications for British colonialism are well-known. Just to refresh your memory on the 4-stages, Adam Smith gave lectures at the University of Glasgow that described them as 1) the Age of Hunters, 2) the Age of Shepherds, 3) the Age of Agriculture, 4) the Age of Commerce. He described stage one: "If we should suppose 10 or 12 persons of different sexes settled in an uninhabited island, the first method they would fall upon for their sustenance would be to support themselves by the wild fruits and wild animals which the country afforded. Their sole business would be hunting the wild beasts or catching the fishes. The pulling of a wild fruit can hardly be called an employment. The only thing among them which deserved the appellation of a business would be the chase. This is the age of hunters." You can practically see the austere, pleasure-hating Scotsman spitting out the words "can hardly be called an employment." Another stagist was the French philosopher Cornelius de Pauw who wrote something called "Recherches Philosphiques sur les Américains" in 1768. Meek comments that the book was filled with bizarre speculations about the habitants of the New World, which he thought included cannibals, albinos, giants and hermaphrodites. Perhaps de Pauw was anticipating 1998 Manhattan, who knows? Much more disturbing and outrageous was his claim that the inhospitable climate of the continent explained the ignobility of the indigenous peoples. He writes: "I return here to that great principle of which I have already made use, and say it is not only natural but also necessary that there should be, as between savages located in such similar climates, as many resemblances as there possibly are between the Tunguses [Siberians] and the Canadians. Equally barbarous, equally living by hunting and fishing in countries which are cold, infertile, and covered with forests, what disproportion would one expect? Where people feel the same needs, where the means of satisfying them are the same, where the atmospheric influences are so similar, can the manners be contradictory, and can the ideas vary?" full: http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/indian/engels_stages.htm
-- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
