A short Course in Marxism

[Cael Dubh]

Great thread.

I have a few things to say about the first post though if it's ok.

The things that you're objecting to are perfectly true if you accept the premises they're based on. What are those premises?

Well...



Here. If you accept Hegelian bullshit, then everything else in the post follows trivially.

Hegel and Marx did not 'point' anything out, they conjectured. While a course on Marxism should, I guess, not delve too deeply into criticism of this (for fear of missing the point of the course), there needs to be a deeper discussion on Hegel before one can really communicate Marx.

I don't disagree with you there, a chara. There is a general acceptance among philosophers today that you cant understand Marx without Hegel, and you cant understand Hegel without Marx. Your main objection seems to be with the term "shows," as in Hegel shows that the human subject is not ready made and unchanging. Of course he didnt "prove" that this is the case, but "show" and "prove" are not the same concept. If one puts forward a very tight argument, well backed up and resistant to contradiction, then its valid to say that you have "shown" something to be the case.

I think if we look at the development of the child, it would be difficult to say that its subjectivity is not the result of its socialisation - rather than something that he\she was born with, and remains unchanging. Hegel's point was that as we aquire language, and develop our understanding of the world, our subjectivity expands. Freud "showed" that there is a kernal of subjectivity that is very resistant to change. This is a kernal of trauma centred around the castration complex. But this does not contradict Hegel, as the castration complex is a function of our socialisation.

The soul is a similar idea to the subject - but not at all the same. The Christian idea is that the soul is given at conception, but Christianity does not accept that the soul is unchanging. It can, of course, be blackened by sin and ultimately condemned to eternal damnation. On the other hand, it may be enriched by meditation and love of God and man.

[CroppyBoy]

Im having a go at reading Marx's Capital at the moment and I came across this site. http://www.marxisteconomics.com/

Might be usefull for anyone trying to read the book or anyone interested in Marx in general.

[DonegalDanny]

Very very interesting. Looking forward to reading more of these mini-essays. Definately made me think, cheers Cael.