Friday, November 6, 2015

Two Invisible Hands

Marx-Engels do not deny the existence of Smith's Invisible Hand; rather, they interpret it as a manifestation of a General Will in alienation from its origin in the members of a society.  Now, that diagnosis provides evidence for a hitherto unexplored implication of Smith's image.  For, since hands come in pairs, if there is one Invisible Hand, there must be two.  In other words, the metaphor suggests that a society is governed by two principles not one.  So, the condition of alienation is one in which the two are distinguishable.  Accordingly, they can be characterized as a principle of Unity and a principle of Multiplicity, or, equivalently, Form and Matter.  Furthermore, the two can be conceived as interacting dialectically.  But, if so, then one error of Marxist analysis is to not recognize that Class Conflict is not an instance of a primary Dialectic, and that, instead, it is a symptom of a Multiplicity lacking Unity.  Furthermore, since, as the metaphor of two hands entails, the problem is to coordinate them, not to fuse them, the second error of  Marxist analysis is the concept of Synthesis, not coordination, as the resolution of a Dialectical pattern.  Likewise, on the basis of the premise of the existence of two Invisible Hands, insofar as Socialism is the result of a resolution of a Dialectical antagonism, the sublation involved is constituted by a coordination of the two principles, not by the negation of each..

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