Saturday, June 9, 2018

Private Property, Atomism, Holism

Any Dialecticism, Hegelian or Marxist, is, more precisely, Dialectical Atomism.  For, its fundamental givens are isolated elements, as Marx shows in his Dissertation, even if they eventually combine.  Accordingly, the Marxist concept of Private Property is likewise Atomistic, even if eventually abolished by Dialectical Sublation.  In contrast, Rousseau's concept of Private Property is Holistic--the product of a differention of a prior given Whole.  Now, this concept of a property-less 'state of nature' is often dismissed as fictional.  However, since it is unarguable that the Earth pre-dates the arrival of humans, a property-less state of nature must likewise pre-date their arrival and the first privatization of a portion of the Earth.  Accordingly, Property can only historically be the product of an initial sub-dividing, an event that is as inconceivable to Dialectical Atomism as is the Holist origin of any Division of Labor.

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