Re: [OPE-L] Inter-species slavery

From: Dogan Goecmen (Dogangoecmen@AOL.COM)
Date: Fri Nov 24 2006 - 03:51:12 EST


"The more we know about other species, the more there is cause  for
scepticism about claims of human uniqueness.   Whatever  Marx  did
or did not believe about this, he was a product of the 19th  Century.
We have to look at these questions from the standpoint of
21st  Century knowledge."


Jerry,

are you saying that we have to read Marx only for historical reasons and
that he has nothing or not much to say about our world? I think whatever
progress science made since the 19th century it gives us reason to refine and
improve our understanding but it does not give us reasons to put Marx aside. You
and other contributers who try to challenge the idea that there is something
unique about human beings should above all, instead escaping into the future and
 speculating about whether other species could or would develop capitalism,
look  back to the history. Other animals, how sophisticated their language and
social  relations might be, dont have history of their own, that is, apart
from natural  history. They are subject to history but they do not make history.
I am  repeting my ealier question. Do other animals produce tools and improve
it as  the production process proceeds? If any one can show us from
hsitorical records  that they do, then, we have reason to be sceptical about human
uniqueness.

Dogan


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