From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Wed Feb 05 2003 - 07:14:52 EST
I. Re Michael E's [8429]:
Thanks for the clarification on the meanings in ancient Greek of
"idiot." It is more complicated than I originally supposed when
reading your [8421].
II. Re Paul A's [8428]:
> Gerald's celebration of idiocy is tempting...but not very satisfying.
> I think it's a much more compelling reading to take these attacks to
> be the flip side of Marx's celebration of capitalism's civilizing
> mission to draw people out of local and other forms of isolation into
> a broader fabric of real relations of interdependence, thus making
> real and immediate humanity's true nature ("species being").
Capital not only brings large numbers of people together in one place
in worksites and cities, it (ands the state) also fosters social values
which it benefits from including discipline, respect for authority,
consumer/commercial social values, etc.. In other words, capital only
creates (even better: furthers), through the factory system and urbanization
and extension of markets internationally and advances in communication
and transportation technologies, the _possibility_ of humanity realizing its
true nature. Species being, though, requires and presupposes (just like
self-rule and democracy and workers' control) individuals who are
independent and critical in thought. An elite can not realize species being
for humanity.
Solidarity, Jerry
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