Economics as Fraud part 2
Philosophy and Revolution part 2
Inexact sciences are poetry.
Philosophy, Macroeconomics, Psychology,etc.. are poetry, not real science.
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Philosophy for me, is nothing but poetry. It is not really science. The world is a complicated place to the naked human. And good revolutionary philosophy is the one which *inspires* people to properly analyse the world around them, identify what is good/bad for them, formulate a tangible form of action against the bad and towards the good.
And if some poem(philosophy) doesn't do that, it might be valuable, but it should be moved to the "entertainment" section, away from the "battle cry of the oppressed" section.
Before Marx, philosophy was used mostly by the well-off class(aristrocrats, slave owners, upper middle class,etc...) for their personal entertainment and also to justify their rule/privileges. That is why you will find in Catholicism(religion in feudal europe 500AD - Present) or Confucianism(religion in feudal china 1100AD to 1900AD), although born in completely different parts of the world(Europe vs China), same kind of ideas about the divinity/naturalness of hierarchy and domination and encourages naive non-violence(ignoring the structural violence inherent in the system). Both these philosophies were interpreted in a way so as to justify the authority of the cruel landlords, encouraged their slaves to work for their masters with loyalty and obedience. It told the people that suffering in this life is good, because more suffering in this life will make them eligible for good stuff in the next life in heaven or on earth.
If you look closely, even Confucianism might have portions where it encourages rising up against oppression. But an important point to consider is what the real life effects of this poem(philosophy) was on its adherents. Even if Confucianism says to fight against oppressors, if it doesn't help in identifying who the present oppressors are and how to fight them, it is useless to that period in history as a revolutionary philosophy. Hence why Maoist revolution in china emphasized Marxism as overthrowing the old burden of Confucianism. Confucianism is valuable, but as a historical artifact or for entertainment in people's free time, not as revolutionary philosophy.
If some philosophy says inside it somewhere that "ya, oppressors are bad", its not enough. If it gives itself to being used to continue the ruling class interests, it renders itself as a counterrevolutionary poem.
We are living in an era, in which naive individualism is used as a counternarrative against collective oppression of class, caste, gender,etc.. especially class. Today, you will find corporations all in support of gender equality, gay rights,etc... but they are silent on the idea of class. Class doesn't exist they say. Neoliberal/Free market economics says as long as the individual transactions are voluntary, there is no exploitation. But this overlooks the fact that historical inequalities/violence propagate themselves into the future for a very long time, unless they are dealt with. Free market economics also overlooks reality itself, since no capitalist system in the history of humanity has ever propagated itself without using the violence of the state to artificially *create* the inequality required for capitalism to exist.
Here we see illusions being created. Using naive truisms and popular slogans to create narratives that are evil and misleading.
Philosophy, like poetry can be interpreted for good and bad also. Altho better quality revolutionary philosophy resists such attempts for longer time. For eg., Catholicism which was used to oppress people in medieval europe was used in the 20th century in Latin America by priests as a revolutionary philosophy. "Liberation theology", a form of marxist christianity was developed by catholic priests who organized the poor to fight for socialism(wealth redistribution). It inspired people to gain many rights.
Good philosophy(one that can be used for socio-economic-political analysis) like good poretry should encourage the right people for the right action. Phrases such as "workers of the world unite, for you have nothing to lose", is something that encourages international working class solidarity, an acknowledgement of the reality of capitalist oppression and an emphasis on the idea that the change is worth the effort.
A change in "working class" from industrial workers to majority service sector workers, or the "chains' being "intersectional"(i.e. different forms of oppression affecting different members of the working class in different degrees race,gender,etc..) do not change the fundamentals of the slogan. Marxist philosophy and socialism will live as long as capitalism exists.
You can always observe that good revolutionary philosophy is one which is used by activists and revolutionaries. And pretentious nonsense philosophy is only used by upper middle class and the ruling class. It flutters when demanded to produce concrete analysis of concrete conditions.
The most important part of a philosophy is the effect/interpretation which it creates in the minds of the readers, regardless of what it "really" says. Good philosophy should not be easily misinterpreted for the wrong purposes.
Inexact sciences are poetry.
Philosophy, Macroeconomics, Psychology,etc.. are poetry, not real science.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philosophy for me, is nothing but poetry. It is not really science. The world is a complicated place to the naked human. And good revolutionary philosophy is the one which *inspires* people to properly analyse the world around them, identify what is good/bad for them, formulate a tangible form of action against the bad and towards the good.
And if some poem(philosophy) doesn't do that, it might be valuable, but it should be moved to the "entertainment" section, away from the "battle cry of the oppressed" section.
Before Marx, philosophy was used mostly by the well-off class(aristrocrats, slave owners, upper middle class,etc...) for their personal entertainment and also to justify their rule/privileges. That is why you will find in Catholicism(religion in feudal europe 500AD - Present) or Confucianism(religion in feudal china 1100AD to 1900AD), although born in completely different parts of the world(Europe vs China), same kind of ideas about the divinity/naturalness of hierarchy and domination and encourages naive non-violence(ignoring the structural violence inherent in the system). Both these philosophies were interpreted in a way so as to justify the authority of the cruel landlords, encouraged their slaves to work for their masters with loyalty and obedience. It told the people that suffering in this life is good, because more suffering in this life will make them eligible for good stuff in the next life in heaven or on earth.
If you look closely, even Confucianism might have portions where it encourages rising up against oppression. But an important point to consider is what the real life effects of this poem(philosophy) was on its adherents. Even if Confucianism says to fight against oppressors, if it doesn't help in identifying who the present oppressors are and how to fight them, it is useless to that period in history as a revolutionary philosophy. Hence why Maoist revolution in china emphasized Marxism as overthrowing the old burden of Confucianism. Confucianism is valuable, but as a historical artifact or for entertainment in people's free time, not as revolutionary philosophy.
If some philosophy says inside it somewhere that "ya, oppressors are bad", its not enough. If it gives itself to being used to continue the ruling class interests, it renders itself as a counterrevolutionary poem.
We are living in an era, in which naive individualism is used as a counternarrative against collective oppression of class, caste, gender,etc.. especially class. Today, you will find corporations all in support of gender equality, gay rights,etc... but they are silent on the idea of class. Class doesn't exist they say. Neoliberal/Free market economics says as long as the individual transactions are voluntary, there is no exploitation. But this overlooks the fact that historical inequalities/violence propagate themselves into the future for a very long time, unless they are dealt with. Free market economics also overlooks reality itself, since no capitalist system in the history of humanity has ever propagated itself without using the violence of the state to artificially *create* the inequality required for capitalism to exist.
Here we see illusions being created. Using naive truisms and popular slogans to create narratives that are evil and misleading.
Philosophy, like poetry can be interpreted for good and bad also. Altho better quality revolutionary philosophy resists such attempts for longer time. For eg., Catholicism which was used to oppress people in medieval europe was used in the 20th century in Latin America by priests as a revolutionary philosophy. "Liberation theology", a form of marxist christianity was developed by catholic priests who organized the poor to fight for socialism(wealth redistribution). It inspired people to gain many rights.
Good philosophy(one that can be used for socio-economic-political analysis) like good poretry should encourage the right people for the right action. Phrases such as "workers of the world unite, for you have nothing to lose", is something that encourages international working class solidarity, an acknowledgement of the reality of capitalist oppression and an emphasis on the idea that the change is worth the effort.
A change in "working class" from industrial workers to majority service sector workers, or the "chains' being "intersectional"(i.e. different forms of oppression affecting different members of the working class in different degrees race,gender,etc..) do not change the fundamentals of the slogan. Marxist philosophy and socialism will live as long as capitalism exists.
You can always observe that good revolutionary philosophy is one which is used by activists and revolutionaries. And pretentious nonsense philosophy is only used by upper middle class and the ruling class. It flutters when demanded to produce concrete analysis of concrete conditions.
The most important part of a philosophy is the effect/interpretation which it creates in the minds of the readers, regardless of what it "really" says. Good philosophy should not be easily misinterpreted for the wrong purposes.
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