Why do diamonds cost more than water, when water is essential to life? The answer eluded both Smith and Marx before its resolution arrived in the form of the Marginal Revolution.
Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition (Citizens Only)
On Karl Marx’s The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. What is human nature? What drives history? How can we improve our situation? Marx thought that fundamentally, you are what you do: you are your job, your means of subsistence. All the rest, this culture, this religion, this philosophy, is just a thin layer over our basic situation. Ideas are not primarily what changes the world; it’s economics.
End song: “Job” by Mark Lint and the Fake from So Whaddaya Think? (2000).
PREVIEW-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition
On Karl Marx’s The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. What is human nature? What drives history? How can we improve our situation? Marx thought that fundamentally, you are what you do: you are your job, your means of subsistence. All the rest, this culture, this religion, this philosophy, is just a thin layer over our basic situation. Ideas are not primarily what changes the world; it’s economics.
Topic for #70: Karl Marx’s “German Ideology”
On 1/13 we recorded a discussion of an early work of Karl Marx, from about 20 years before the publication of his famous Das Capital, The German Ideology. Listen to the episode. We read just part 1 of the work, which was written in 1845-6 but not published until 1932 (with some portions of it coming out earlier in the Continue Reading …
More on Bergmann’s “New Work”
Here are the main elements of Frithjof’s Bergmann’s idea of “New Work” (introduced in this post) as he taught it back at U. of Michigan. 1. Developing a calling. Work can sap our will to live, but the right kind of work can be invigorating. If it’s an enterprise you can identify with, that’s meaningful to you, then it becomes Continue Reading …
Political Idealism and Frithjof Bergmann’s “New Work”
I had intended to wait for some upcoming episode more relevant to this topic than Husserl to start ranting on this on the blog, but it’s been much on my mind of late. As you may know from my mentioning it at every possible opportunity on the podcast, probably my favorite undergrad prof. at U. of Michigan was Frithjof Bergmann. Continue Reading …
Philosophy in/of Economics – Call for Ideas
OK folks. As we build out our schedule for the next year, I’ve promised that we are going to do something on Economics. I’m in the process of doing the research now and would like to solicit input from the community. What we need is a digestible text (or several) that lay out some of the central philosophical assumptions of Continue Reading …