Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Collectivism, Individuality, Personality

At first glance, as has been previously discussed, 'From each according to one's ability, to each according to one's need' seems to have a simple 'from A to B' structure, but, in fact, is the more complex, 'from A to B, and from B to C', with B = some Collective.  Accordingly, the formula is interpreted by many Capitalists as an expression of the suppression by Marxism of Individuality.  Perhaps the formula does challenge Individualism, though only because that interpretation ignores the "each" in both clauses, which signifies, more distinctive than Individuality--Personality.  Furthermore, it cannot avoid ignoring it, since the Logic of Capitalism is Atomistic, according to which any Totality either suppresses any differentiation, or else is a mere nominal aggregate of Individuals.  Hence, the concept of 'each' is precluded by the concept of a Collective.  In contrast, the concept of Organism entails both, and, is implicit in Marx' formulation, though the status of the concept in Dialectical Materialism is unclear.

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