Activity, Passivity, Collectivism

Aristotle and Spinoza are among those who distinguish active from passive pleasure. While the latter is a localized response to an external stimulus, e. g. the taste buds, the sexual organs, etc., the former is the feeling of harmonization of all the parts of an organism as it is engaged in some activity. Now, insofar as Wealth is regarded as an end-in-itself, e. g. in Capitalism, the enjoyment of it is passive. Likewise, therefore, the target of the standard Capitalist criticism of 'Collectivism', qua the redistribution of Wealth, is collective passivity. Thus, just as active pleasure has no intrinsic value in Capitalism, that criticism is oblivious to the possibility that the Collectivism that Marx prescribes as a remedy to the de-humanization of Labor is that of collective activity. Since many of those critics are no doubt aware of the enjoyability of participation in team sports or in ensemble artistic performances, that obliviousness can only signify a divorce of their vision of Capitalism from actuality.