[Marxism-Thaxis] What more specifically does irreversible mean ?
AP - President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly. ^^ CB: What more specifically does irreversible mean ? This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse, Obama wrote in the op-ed titled, The Action Americans Need. Senate Democratic leaders hope for passage of the legislation by Friday at the latest, although prospects appear to hinge on crafting a series of spending reductions that would make the bill more palatable to centrists in both parties. Obama rejected the argument that more tax cuts are needed in the plan and that piecemeal measures would be sufficient, arguing that Americans made their intentions clear in the election. I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change, he wrote. Historically huge to begin with, economic stimulus legislation is growing larger by the day in the Senate, where the addition of a new tax break for homebuyers sent the price tag well past $900 billion. It is time to fix housing first, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Wednesday night as the Senate agreed without controversy to add the new tax break to the stimulus measure, at an estimated cost of nearly $19 billion. The tax break was the most notable attempt to date to add help for the crippled housing industry and gave Republicans a victory as they work to remake the legislation more to their liking. Three swing-vote senators met with Obama at the White House on Wednesday to discuss possible cutbacks, but they declined to discuss details of their talks. Obama has made the legislation a cornerstone of his recovery plan. For their part, Senate Republicans signaled they would persist in their efforts to reduce spending in the measure, to add tax cuts and reduce the cost of mortgages for millions of homeowners. Officials figures were unavailable, but it appeared that the measure carried a price tag of more than $920 billion, making it bigger than the financial industry bailout that passed last year and as large as any measure in memory. Despite bipartisan concerns about the cost, Republicans failed in a series of attempts on Wednesday to cut back the bill's size. The most sweeping proposal, advanced by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., would have eliminated all the spending and replaced it with a series of tax cuts. It was defeated 61-36. Democrats also upheld a so-called Buy American provision that requires projects financed by the measure to be built with domestically produced iron and steel. But with Obama voicing concern about the provision, the requirement was changed to specify that U.S. international trade agreements not to be violated. Additionally, Democrats turned back an attempt to strip out a provision that Obama has said was essential. It would provide a tax cut of up to $1,000 for working couples, including those who do not make enough to pay income taxes. Isakson said the new tax break for homebuyers was intended to help revive the housing industry, which has virtually collapsed in the wake of a credit crisis that began last fall. The proposal would allow a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing residences, up to a $15,000 limit. Current law provides for a $7,500 tax break but only for first-time homebuyers. Isakson's office said the proposal would cost the government an estimated $19 billion. The provision was the second tax cut approved in as many days targeted to individual industries. On Tuesday, the Senate voted to give a break to consumers who buy new cars. The House approved its own version of the bill last week. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_go_pr_wh/congress_stimulus Stores see January sales fall; Wal-Mart posts rise (AP) ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Revoke Krugman's Nobel Prize!
Barkley Rosser is a Thaxis alum. CB ^^^ Revoke Krugman's Nobel Prize! by Barkley Rosser Yes, I know, not only has no Nobel Prize ever been revoked for anything, but they certainly do not do so for idiotic statements made by winners after they have won. However, as the first winner of the prize for international trade in 31 years, I find it appalling that Paul Krugman has come out for the buy American provision in the fiscal stimulus package now under consideration in the US Senate, a provision not supported by President Obama, and roundly denounced by pretty much everybody outside the US, a provision that would violate promises made in November in Washington not to engage in protectionist actions for at least a year, with at its worst the nightmare possibility of a rerun of the trade war of the 1930s following the US Smoot-Hawley tariff that exacerbated the Great Depression. While some may dismiss such a possibility now, the standing of the US in the world on economic policy may have never been worse, given the role of the collapse of our sub-prime market in the current troubles, and with world merchandise trade dropping at an annualized rate of nearly 45% in November. This is not the time to be playing with such irresponsible fire. http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2009/02/revoke-krugmans-nobel-prize.html ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Russia agrees to Afghan request for defence aid
Russia agrees to Afghan request for defence aid Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:13pm IST By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL (Reuters) - Russia has accepted a request from President Hamid Karzai to provide military aid to Afghanistan, the Afghan government said on Monday. The move comes amid complaints by many Afghans that NATO and the United States, who have thousands of troops in Afghanistan, have been slow to equip Afghan national forces to fight the Taliban. Afghanistan has largely relied on NATO and the United States to bankroll its security needs and the economy since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001. But despite receiving some military equipment from NATO, Afghanistan still uses Russian-made weapons and aircraft, left over from the former Soviet Union's 10-year occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Karzai, who has led Afghanistan since the Taliban's removal, made the request by a letter to Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev in November 2008, the presidential palace said in a statement. Medvedev, in a letter addressed to Karzai, has said that Russia is ready to help Afghanistan in the defensive sectors, the statement said. Medvedev said defensive ties between Kabul and Moscow would result in effective cooperation on both sides and in the restoration of security in the region, the statement said. Russia was keen for cooperation with Afghanistan in other areas too, the statement quoted Medvedev as saying in the letter. Chief presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada said despite Karzai's call on Russia for defensive aid, Afghanistan was committed to its ties with NATO and the United States. The equipment of our national army, our helicopters and tanks are Russian-made so this (request) has a technical aspect. We have strategic commitment to NATO and the United States, Hamidzada told Reuters. Some 70,000 foreign troops under NATO and U.S. military command are stationed in Afghanistan, and Washington is expected to send up to 30,000 extra forces by summer to the country, where the al Qaeda-backed Taliban have made a comeback since 2005. U.S.-led and Afghan troops overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. More than seven years on, Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are still at large and many Afghans believe foreign forces are more focussed on pursuing their own regional agendas, rather than helping Afghanistan. The United States and its allies have not given any time frame for the withdrawal of their forces and say the soldiers will remain in Afghanistan for the long haul and until national security forces can stand on their own feet. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Kyrgyzstan starts moves to close U.S. airbase
Kyrgyzstan starts moves to close U.S. airbase Wed Feb 4, 2009 3:04pm EST By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's government asked parliament on Wednesday to approve the closure of a U.S. military air base which supplies U.S.-led troops fighting in Afghanistan. The decision by the Central Asian state, a former Soviet republic and a traditional Russian ally, sends a tough signal and challenge to new U.S. President Barack Obama as he plans to send additional troops to Afghanistan. But Moscow said it would be flexible to U.S. requests to transit supplies across Russia. It gave no details. The Manas base is an important staging post for the U.S.-led military campaign against the Taliban and becomes more so as Washington seeks to reinforce supply routes that bypass Pakistan, where supply convoys face security risks. Analysts said the move could be a signal to Obama that Moscow wants to ensure it is consulted in any diplomatic decisions in a region where it has traditional influence but the United States has sought to increase its presence. I have a feeling Russia wants to offer a new format for cooperation, in which Russia will speak on behalf of the region in contacts with the United States, said Arkady Dubnov, an independent analyst. Bargaining could be conducted on this footing. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said the base would be shut after he secured Russian financial aid at talks in Moscow on Tuesday. Adakhan Madumarov, secretary of the Kyrgyz Security Council, said in Moscow the U.S. military would be given 180 days to close its operations and leave once the two sides had exchanged formal diplomatic notes outlining the intention. Moscow denied any connection between the $2 billion package to combat an economic crisis -- the equivalent of about half of Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product -- and Bishkek's decision. That was a sovereign and very well thought over decision of the Kyrgyz leader, said Russia's deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin. U.S. SUPPLY ROUTES Closing Washington's only military outpost in Central Asia would pose a challenge for U.S. supply lines in the region, particularly after militants severed the main route into Afghanistan by blowing up a bridge in Pakistan this week. The U.S. State Department said by early Wednesday it had still not been informed officially of the decision. We have seen many statements in the media but we have not received any notification through the appropriate diplomatic channels on this, said spokesman Gordon Duguid. Many in Kyrgyzstan have criticized the presence of U.S. troops, prompting Washington to explore possibilities in other parts of Central Asia including Uzbekistan which evicted U.S. troops in 2005. Ties have eased since then. Moscow, which operates its own airbase in Kyrgyzstan a few dozen kilometers away from Manas, has been irritated by Manas's existence and has put pressure on Kyrgyzstan to close it, though on Wednesday said it would offer the U.S. support. We positively reacted to the request of the United States for the transit through Russia of goods and materials to Afghanistan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told reporters. We will be flexible in many other ways which will support our joint success in Afghanistan -- that would be the basic school of thinking from which we will proceed. BUSINESS AS USUAL Outside Bishkek, business appeared to go on as usual at the airbase, viewed from behind a ring of barbed wire encircling the facility, home to more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel. At its main gate, three servicemen, all clad in uniforms and looking stern, refused to talk to reporters as they verified registration plates on vehicles entering the base. Outside Manas, surrounded by swathes of empty, snow-blanketed land, a Kyrgyz sheep herder said he supported closing the base -- partly because he wanted more grazing land. I support this move. We think this airbase only harms our nature, said Ulan, a bearded man of about 50. Although many Kyrgyz have mixed feelings about the presence of U.S. troops, particularly after a U.S. airman shot dead a Kyrgyz man in a 2006 incident, Bakiyev critics said the nation could ill-afford to lose such an important ally as Washington. U.S. officials said while the Manas base was important, any decision to close it would not halt operations in Afghanistan. The United States has 32,000 troops in Afghanistan and U.S. officials have said the planned build-up could grow to include as many as 30,000 troops over the next 12 to 18 months. © Thomson Reuters 2008 ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Etta James Doles Out Harsh ‘La st’ Words for Beyonce, Obama
Evidently, Etta James agees with Ralph (smile) http://h30405.www3.hp.com/print/pdf/2EJYDHE7CMAC/news Etta James Doles Out Harsh ‘Last’ Words for Beyonce, Obama (Feb. 5) - Etta James sure can hold a grudge, that much is certain after the RB icon vented her gripes about singer Beyonce Knowles and President Barack Obama during a recent concert in Seattle. The 71-year-old diva is steaming mad over Beyonce’s performance of ‘At Last,’ her signature tune, at Obama’s first inauguration party. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama danced to the legendary ballad (see photos below). The fiery rant, in which she threatens to beat up “that woman” and openly mocks “the one with the big ears,” has been leaked on TMZ. Hear Etta’s Concert Ramblings: “You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears?” she said to the crowd, unsure of what lay ahead. “Wait a minute, he ain’t my president, he might be yours, he ain’t my president. You know that woman he had singing for him, singing my song — she’s going to get her ass whipped.” Beyonce played James on the big screen recently, in ‘Cadillac Records.’ Now, we have an idea what the elder singer thinks of her movie version. She continued at the concert: “The great Beyonce. I can’t stand Beyonce,” she told the crowd. “She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day, gonna be singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.” James is best known for ‘At Last,’ released in 1961 on Chess Records, but she has scores of other hits including ‘Trust in Me’ and ‘Fool That I Am.’ Beyonce ruffled the sequins of another diva last year when at the Grammy Awards she introduced Tina Turner, and not Aretha Franklin, as “The Queen.” Her royal highness the Queen of Soul was not pleased by the diss, and called it a “cheap shot.” ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Proletarianization and Overaccumulation
Let us examine the matter a little more closely. Overproduction and Underconsumption are two sides of the same coin. Over or too much production of what and relative to what ? Too much is produced when the rate of profit starts to fall. Too much _from the perspective of the capitalists_. Not from the perspective of the working class. What is overaccumulation and what is over accumulated so as to cause the rate of profit to fall ? So, what is it that makes the amount of production or accumulation cause the rate of profit to start falling ? Socalled overproductionists emphasize the operation of Marx Law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall or the FROP, falling rate of profit, for short. Marx reasons ( In Vol. I of _Capital_ that increase in the Organic Composition of Capital or OCC causes a tendency for the rate of profit to fall. Why ? The OCC is the ratio of the Constant Capital (means of production, plant, equipment, raw materials, instruments of production) to Variable Capital ( human labor): Constant Capital (numerator)/Variable Capital(denominator) of a mathematical fraction. As the numerator increases and the denominator decreases, the OCC goes up; it goes down vica versa, of course Marx explained in Vol. I of _Capital_, in the discussion of Relative Surplus value ( as opposed to Absolute Surplus Value) that capitalists are constantly trying to increase relative surplus value by looking for ways to revolutionize the instruments of production . The _Manifesto of the Communist Party_ had said the same thing. The bourgeoisie are constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production. Individual capitalists are always looking for innovations in the instuments of production, constant capital, so as to get a leg up on the competition. Revolutions of instruments of production are inventions and innovations of machines of all types which increase productivity, that is, allow the production of the same number of unit commodities, with fewer hours of labor , or more unit commodities with the same hours of labor. This increases the rate of surplus value relatively ( absolute surplus value is increased by lengthening the workday). Eventually, the innovations spread to the whole industry, reducing the workforce size. This is a critical process to Waistline's analysis of what is happening with robotization in industry today. It also increases the OCC in an industry. The increase in the OCC eventually tends to lower the average rate of profit when it goes industry wide, because labor, variable capital, is the only source of new value and new surplus value, which is the basis of profit. Capitalists accrue surplus value and profit from their variable capital investment, their investment in labor, not from their investment in constant capital, in more efficient machines and other instruments of production ( well , of course the one capitalist who gets the leg up on the rest with innovative instruments of production increases profit compared to others until they catch up) Thus, Marx concludes this all creates a tendency for the rate of profit to fall. He discusses this in Vol. III ,under the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. It is the accumulation of too much constant capital relative to variable capital that causes the rate of profit to fall in the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. Overproduction is production of more commodities than can be sold. In other words, it is production of more commodities than the mass of consumers, the mass of wage-laborers, can buy. This is the sense in which overproduction and underconsumption are two-sides of the same coin. This is a second way in which the rate of profit tends to fall. It creates the classic situation of inventories growing, warehouses filling up with unsold goods It is also the point of contradiction of the famous anarchy of production. Many different companies just produce in an uncoordinated or overall unplanned manner. It is the point at which supply and demand don't equal each other. This mismatch is inherent in exploitation. It is inherent in exploitation because societies' wage-laborers as a whole are not paid enough to buy all that they produce. Overproduction does not refer to the OCC/FROP logic above. There is not too much _production_ of constant capital, of too much constant capital relative to variable capital. There is too much _accumulation_ or deployment of constant capital relative to variable capital. It is purchase and deployment of constant capital in increased ratio to variable capital that raises the Organic Composition of the total capital and causes the FROP. It is not production of commodities that raises the Organic Composition of the total capital and leads to the FROP. So, it is overaccumulation, not overproduction that causes the FROP, or the falling rate of profit. But also lowering the rate of profit
[Marxism-Thaxis] Proletarianization and Overaccumulation
Perhaps we can get an understanding of the issues on this thread by imagining Waistline's totally robotized or automated factory. As Walter Reuther said (to Ford ?) if automobile production is 100% robotized, then who will buy the cars produced ? This refers to a zero profit realization problem for capitalists when there is zero consumption. If workers aren't paid anything the masses are in absolute poverty and absolutely restricted consumption, and they can't buy anything. So, the capitalists have zero realized profit. It is also an absolute overaccumulation situation. The rate of profit is zero because the OCC is mathematically undefined or maybe infinite, as the denominator in the OCC fraction is zero. Constant capital/ variable capital is 1/0 - one over zero. Since there is no varible capital, no human labor all robots, there is no source of value, no new value, so there is no surplus value and no profit. If there is no exploitation there is no profit. The rate of profit is zero. If there is no profit, there is no capitalism. So, as capitalism moves toward no variable capital and all constant capital, absolute overaccumulation , it moves toward its own negation. Perhaps this extreme, and imaginary * example demonstrates the truth of both overaccumulation ( OCC of infinity/undefined, robots can't be exploited, so zero surplus value) and overproduction/zero-consumption (robots can't buy cars, zero realization of profit ) How's my math ? * (Of course, a perpetual motion machine is an impossibility because of the laws of physics, maybe one of the laws of thermodynamics) Jules Verne ___ 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
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Etta James Doles Out Harsh â La stâ Words for Beyonce, Obama
Thank you, Etta! At 02:45 PM 2/5/2009, Charles Brown wrote: Evidently, Etta James agees with Ralph (smile) http://h30405.www3.hp.com/print/pdf/2EJYDHE7CMAC/news Etta James Doles Out Harsh âLastâ Words for Beyonce, Obama (Feb. 5) - Etta James sure can hold a grudge, that much is certain after the RB icon vented her gripes about singer Beyonce Knowles and President Barack Obama during a recent concert in Seattle. The 71-year-old diva is steaming mad over Beyonceâs performance of âAt Last,â her signature tune, at Obamaâs first inauguration party. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama danced to the legendary ballad (see photos below). The fiery rant, in which she threatens to beat up âthat womanâ and openly mocks âthe one with the big ears,â has been leaked on TMZ. Hear Ettaâs Concert Ramblings: âYou guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears?â she said to the crowd, unsure of what lay ahead. âWait a minute, he ainât my president, he might be yours, he ainât my president. You know that woman he had singing for him, singing my song sheâs going to get her ass wwhipped.â Beyonce played James on the big screen recently, in âCadillac Records.â Now, we have an idea what the elder singer thinks of her movie version. She continued at the concert: âThe great Beyonce. I canât stand Beyonce,â she told the crowd. âShe has no business up there, singing up there on a big olâ president day, gonna be singing my song that Iâve been singing forever.â James is best known for âAt Last,â released in 1961 on Chess Records, but she has scores of other hits including âTrust in Meâ and âFool That I Am.â Beyonce ruffled the sequins of another diva last year when at the Grammy Awards she introduced Tina Turner, and not Aretha Franklin, as âThe Queen.â Her royal highness the Queen of Soul was not pleased by the diss, and called it a âcheap shot. ___ 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
[Marxism-Thaxis] Marx against creationism
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm The creation of the earth has received a mighty blow from geognosy – i.e., from the science which presents the formation of the earth, the development of the earth, as a process, as a self-generation. Generatio aequivoca is the only practical refutation of the theory of creation.[33] Now it is certainly easy to say to the single individual what Aristotle has already said: You have been begotten by your father and your mother; therefore in you the mating of two human beings – a species-act of human beings – has produced the human being. You see, therefore, that even physically man owes his existence to man. Therefore you must not only keep sight of the one aspect – the infinite progression which leads you further to inquire: Who begot my father? Who his grandfather? etc. You must also hold on to the circular movement sensuously perceptible in that progress by which man repeats himself in procreation, man thus always remaining the subject. You will reply, however: I grant you this circular movement; now grant me the progress which drives me ever further until I ask: Who begot the first man, and nature as a whole? I can only answer you: Your question is itself a product of abstraction. Ask yourself how you arrived at that question. Ask yourself whether your question is not posed from a standpoint to which I cannot reply, because it is wrongly put. Ask yourself whether that progress as such exists for a reasonable mind. When you ask about the creation of nature and man, you are abstracting, in so doing, from man and nature. You postulate them as non-existent, and yet you want me to prove them to you as existing. Now I say to you: Give up your abstraction and you will also give up your question. Or if you want to hold on to your abstraction, then be consistent, and if you think of man and nature as non-existent, then think of yourself as non-existent, for you too are surely nature and man. Don’t think, don’t ask me, for as soon as you think and ask, your abstraction from the existence of nature and man has no meaning. Or are you such an egotist that you conceive everything as nothing, and yet want yourself to exist? You can reply: I do not want to postulate the nothingness of nature, etc. I ask you about its genesis, just as I ask the anatomist about the formation of bones, etc. But since for the socialist man the entire so-called history of the world is nothing but the creation of man through human labour, nothing but the emergence of nature for man, so he has the visible, irrefutable proof of his birth through himself, of his genesis. Since the real existence of man and nature has become evident in practice, through sense experience, because man has thus become evident for man as the being of nature, and nature for man as the being of man, the question about an alien being, about a being above nature and man – a question which implies the admission of the unreality of nature and of man – has become impossible in practice. Atheism, as the denial of this unreality, has no longer any meaning, for atheism is a negation of God, and postulates the existence of man through this negation; but socialism as socialism no longer stands in any need of such a mediation. It proceeds from the theoretically and practically sensuous consciousness of man and of nature as the essence. Socialism is man’s positive self-consciousness, no longer mediated through the abolition of religion, just as real life is man’s positive reality, no longer mediated through the abolition of private property, through communism. Communism is the position as the negation of the negation, and is hence the actual phase necessary for the next stage of historical development in the process of human emancipation and rehabilitation. Communism is the necessary form and the dynamic principle of the immediate future, but communism as such is not the goal of human development, the form of human society. [34] ___ 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
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] [politicalaffairs] Re: Political Affairs Magazine - The Concept of quot; Auraquot; and the Question of Art in Althusser, Benjamin and Greenberg
Hello, Thanks for your response. Yes, I kinda thought the idea might be that much humanism is philosophical idealism ( in Engels famous sense in _Ludwig Feuerbach: The End of Classical German philsophy_, two great camps of philosophy,idealism and materialism, especially modern philosophy, on the relationship between thought and being, and all that). He's probably avoiding being subjective as opposed to objective, too. But humanism as the term is commonly used today in English, is probably part of the rational kernel of idealism that we want to extract. Something might be lost in the translation from French. But even the French CP paper is name _L'Humanite_. Anyway, I'll try to look at Althusser's essay, because I have become more and more a respecter of Althusser over time. And I subscribe to a certain amount of Levi-Straussian structuralism from my schooling in anthropology( even with its aroma of philosophical idealism ,smile); and Althusser was a structuralist in that school. Ideology and all that. By the way, I think Marx did have a concept of human nature, in his discussion of species-being in the _Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844_. He expresses an essentialism on the relationship between women and men that knocks the socks off the post-modernist anti-essentialists in the following passage: In the approach to woman as the spoil and hand-maid of communal lust is expressed the infinite degradation in which man exists for himself, for the secret of this approach has its unambiguous, decisive, plain and undisguised expression in the relation of man to woman and in the manner in which the direct and natural species-relationship is conceived. The direct, natural, and necessary relation of person to person is the relation of man to woman. In this natural species-relationship man’s relation to nature is immediately his relation to man, just as his relation to man is immediately his relation to nature – his own natural destination. In this relationship, therefore, is sensuously manifested, reduced to an observable fact, the extent to which the human essence has become nature to man, or to which nature to him has become the human essence of man. From this relationship one can therefore judge man’s whole level of development. From the character of this relationship follows how much man as a species-being, as man, has come to be himself and to comprehend himself; the relation of man to woman is the most natural relation of human being to human being. It therefore reveals the extent to which man’s natural behaviour has become human, or the extent to which the human essence in him has become a natural essence – the extent to which his human nature has come to be natural to him. This relationship also reveals the extent to which man’s need has become a human need; the extent to which, therefore, the other person as a person has become for him a need – the extent to which he in his individual existence is at the same time a social being. The first positive annulment of private property – crude communism – is thus merely a manifestation of the vileness of private property, which wants to set itself up as the positive community system. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm Indeed, the human subject is an ensemble of social relations, cultural beings in the anthropological sense of culture. But the sexual relationship is a natural social relationship, the sexual instinct a social instinct, and thus sexual relations are both socially and naturally social. The sexual relationship is a special exception to the postmodernist correct idea that human subjectivity and individuals are predominantly socially or culturally constructed (maybe, ? smile) Ciao, Comrade Charles Brown --- On Fri, 2/6/09, Disqus notifications-dqukn5y...@disqus.net wrote: From: Disqus notifications-dqukn5y...@disqus.net Subject: [politicalaffairs] Re: Political Affairs Magazine - The Concept of quot; Auraquot; and the Question of Art in Althusser, Benjamin and Greenberg To: cdb1...@prodigy.net Date: Friday, February 6, 2009, 3:12 AM Gary Tedman (unregistered) wrote, in response to bing: hello, Althusser meant philosophical humanism, which is basically mainstream bourgeois ideology, he distinguished it from humanitarianism, but there is a lot of humanism in bourgeois humanitarianism too (charity for example). Yes, Marx said that, and being a 'true humanist' is to go beyond classical humanism, as he did for example in his criticism of Feuerbach.. A classic humanist belief would be of the 'human spirit' or 'Man' with a 'human nature' (essence), 'born free' and 'responsible' for 'himself'. For Marx the human subject is an ensemble of social relations (to be brief). See Althusser's essay Marxism is not a Humanism in the book For Marx. Link to comment:
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] [politicalaffairs] Re: Political Affairs Magazine - The Concept of quot; Auraquot; and the Question of Art in Althusser, Benjamin and Greenberg
Althusserian and French anti-humanism in general is bullshit, the French intellectual's way of, as they say, epater les bourgeois. If humanism alludes to something else, then that should be decoded. And I think Tedman is quite mistaken. At 11:10 PM 2/5/2009, Charles Brown wrote: Hello, Thanks for your response. Yes, I kinda thought the idea might be that much humanism is philosophical idealism ( in Engels famous sense in _Ludwig Feuerbach: The End of Classical German philsophy_, two great camps of philosophy,idealism and materialism, especially modern philosophy, on the relationship between thought and being, and all that). He's probably avoiding being subjective as opposed to objective, too. But humanism as the term is commonly used today in English, is probably part of the rational kernel of idealism that we want to extract. Something might be lost in the translation from French. But even the French CP paper is name _L'Humanite_. Anyway, I'll try to look at Althusser's essay, because I have become more and more a respecter of Althusser over time. And I subscribe to a certain amount of Levi-Straussian structuralism from my schooling in anthropology( even with its aroma of philosophical idealism ,smile); and Althusser was a structuralist in that school. Ideology and all that. By the way, I think Marx did have a concept of human nature, in his discussion of species-being in the _Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844_. He expresses an essentialism on the relationship between women and men that knocks the socks off the post-modernist anti-essentialists in the following passage: In the approach to woman as the spoil and hand-maid of communal lust is expressed the infinite degradation in which man exists for himself, for the secret of this approach has its unambiguous, decisive, plain and undisguised expression in the relation of man to woman and in the manner in which the direct and natural species-relationship is conceived. The direct, natural, and necessary relation of person to person is the relation of man to woman. In this natural species-relationship manâs relation to nature is immediately his relation to man, just as his relation to man is immediately his relation to nature his own natural destination. In this relationship, therefore, is sensuously manifested, reduced to an observable fact, the extent to which the human essence has become nature to man, or to which nature to him has become the human essence of man. From this relationship one can therefore judge manâs whole level of development. From the character of this relationship follows how much man as a species-being, as man, has come to be himself and to comprehend himself; the relation of man to woman is the most natural relation of human being to human being. It therefore reveals the extent to which manâs natural behaviour has become human, or the extent to which the human essence in him has become a natural essence the extent to which his human nature has come to be nnatural to him. This relationship also reveals the extent to which manâs need has become a human need; the extent to which, therefore, the other person as a person has become for him a need the extent to which he in his inddividual existence is at the same time a social being. The first positive annulment of private property crudee communism is thus merely a manifestation of the vileeness of private property, which wants to set itself up as the positive community system. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm Indeed, the human subject is an ensemble of social relations, cultural beings in the anthropological sense of culture. But the sexual relationship is a natural social relationship, the sexual instinct a social instinct, and thus sexual relations are both socially and naturally social. The sexual relationship is a special exception to the postmodernist correct idea that human subjectivity and individuals are predominantly socially or culturally constructed (maybe, ? smile) Ciao, Comrade Charles Brown --- On Fri, 2/6/09, Disqus notifications-dqukn5y...@disqus.net wrote: From: Disqus notifications-dqukn5y...@disqus.net Subject: [politicalaffairs] Re: Political Affairs Magazine - The Concept of quot; Auraquot; and the Question of Art in Althusser, Benjamin and Greenberg To: cdb1...@prodigy.net Date: Friday, February 6, 2009, 3:12 AM Gary Tedman (unregistered) wrote, in response to bing: hello, Althusser meant philosophical humanism, which is basically mainstream bourgeois ideology, he distinguished it from humanitarianism, but there is a lot of humanism in bourgeois humanitarianism too (charity for example). Yes, Marx said that, and being a 'true humanist' is to go beyond classical humanism, as he did for example in his criticism of Feuerbach.. A classic humanist belief would be of the 'human
