Thursday, September 13, 2018

Marxism, Holism, Contingency

The passage in the German Ideology in which Marx-Engels tout the freedom to "hunt", "fish", and "rear cattle", as one of the benefits of Socialism, is interpreted by some as an expression of Psychological Holism, a remedy for the fragmentary specialization forced upon a person by a Capitalist Division of Labor.  Now, while that goal might be appealing in some contexts, it is flawed in two respects.  First, it presupposes that Specialization cannot be natural, and, hence, that a talented artist, for example, might not continue to concentrate on one activity given the freedom to do so.  Second, the concept of Psychological Holism presupposes that transcending an achieved completeness is not a fundamental drive, e. g. a Will to Evolve.  Marx is keenly aware of the historical contingency of a concept of 'human nature'.  But, if he and Engels do indeed advocate Psychological Holism, then it, too, can be only as a contingent goal.

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