Work as essence [was: Anarchism & still not getting it]

Adam Souzis adam at souzis.com
Mon Dec 13 04:49:43 PST 1999


I pretty much agree with everything you say here. I was attempting to summarize the thinking of some anarchists which i find interesting though they are not without their limitations.

Note that your comments on the reduction of work and reducing the pressure of time is exactly the same arguments these anarchists make.

-- adam

>I'm intensely allergic to attempts to describe the (distant) future except

>in the

>most general terms (and to the extend necessary to provide a perspective on

>the present as history). But just examining the present we can see factors

>that might well reduce this "problem" to manageable proportions.

>

>

>Two preliminary observations. One, Adam seems to equate "unpleasant"

>with alienated (and both with lack of intellectual challenge), which is not

>necessarily the case, and secondly he treats alienation as a platonic

>essence: it is all or nothing. This leaves no room for historical consideration

>of it which would see it as partly relative to various surrounding

>circumstances.

>

>

>He leaves out, for example, the tremendous leap which sheer shortening

>of work hours (whatever the work might be) would constitute. And this

>is one of the main factors which link present to future: the battle for

>shorter hours began over 150 years ago, and needs to be picked up

>with renewed vigor. His particular example of airline travel and

>its complexity ignores the fact that the pressure of time generated by

>life in capitalist society is responsible for most of the demand for airline

>travel. We do need to slow up life considerably -- and that is another

>thing which can be battled for in the present. I don't know whether

>such slowing up and a consequent debunking of various demands

>for efficiency would reduce greatly the pressure of alienation or not --

>but I'm pretty sure it would change the nature of the "problem."

>

>

>To arrive at a preliminary summary. I don't know what it would mean

>to eliminate alienation; I don't know whether alienation would be

>alienation under all possible circumstances. And when it is separated

>from the whole of life and made a subject of philosophical inspection

>in the abstract it approaches being an unintelligible concept.

>

>

>Carrol

>

>

>[The scare quotes around problem are because I don't like the

>word but can't offhand think of a better one right now.]



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