Re Patrick [4690], Mike [4864], John [4679]
This is great stuff. I mean that sincerely.
I am very content to find the refutation of free trade and
equal exchange, in one citation only.
It's so strange: you guys reached for Marx and I reached
for the Bible. And I find therein, even more is refuted. Of
course, it's all allegorical, so you don't have to take it
seriously. I am reading the Quran, on which I am less informed
but more interested. I would love to be more enlightened.
Mohammed, it seems to me, is to Jesus what Hegel is to Aristotle.
This at least is a religion that appeals to reason.
As for pottage &c: the thing is out of Genesis 27.
Isaac gets old and sends Esau for venison [hunter-gatherer].
Meantime Rebekah, not one to miss a chance, tells Jacob to pick
up two goats [neolothic agriculturalist] and 'I will make them
savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth' [scheming capitalist]
So here we have Esau Volume I [simple commodity production],
Jacob Volume II [are we talking reproduction or what?] and
who could be Rebekah but volume III?
[Incidentally wasn't it a *mess* of pottage, not a mass?
I think it would be great to talk about the mess of surplus
value but we have to stay scientific here. Unless we can
discuss the rate of pottage, in which case, OK.]
Now, IMHO, essence and appearance are really what it's all about.
'My father peradventure will feel me [sensuous perception]
and I shall seem to him as a deceiver [scheinung, *appearance*]
and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing [early
fictitious capital]'
Look, we have this guy, and he gets *everything*, I mean,
this is Isaac's son so we are not just talking the family
trailer; and what does he do? He says he is the guy who
went to get the venison. Come on people: he LIES. Then when
he's done lying, what does he do? He sees this ladder and
then he begets the goddam people.
Of course he has problems: 'And Jacob said to Rebekah
his mother, behold Esau my brother is an hairy man, and I
am a smooth man.' (Genesis 27:11) No doubt, he's in trouble.
So what does he do? He kills goats and wears them. [Early
joint production] Never mind sex, we are talking false
consciousness. What does he say?
'I am Esau thy first-born; I have done according as thou
badest me [Rational Expectations] ; arise, I pray thee, sit
and eat of my venison [McDonalds 12:32]
Now here's the thing. Isaac in his dotage is no slouch:
'How is it that thou has found it so quickly, my son?'
This oft occurred to me in NY, NY. Yea, and in DC.
Here's the clincher: 'Because the LORD thy God brought it
to me'. If this is not the triumph of doctrine over reason,
I know not what I do.
Well, what's the end of the story? Isaac sold Esau over to
Jacob, and all his brethren [labour-power] and even the
blessing [capital]. So what's left? Esau says, OK, have
you anything for me? And Isaac says:
'Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth,
and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt
thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come
to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt
break his yoke from off thy neck'.
Say no more.
Anyhow, it was a great conference. Thanks to absolutely
everyone. I really hope you all enjoyed it as much as me.
Alan