Desire & Scarcity (was Re: Desire under the Elms)

[Michael Yates]

I wonder if a theory of individual desires (as opposed to a theory of
the social determination of desires) isn't about as unrealistic as a
theory of individual dreams.  Isn't asking Carrol why he is depressed
similar to asking why he has certain dreams? I have as I am sure many
people have had very perverse dreams. How could it ever be proved that
these represent some sort of repressed desire?  And repressed by what?
And even if they are repressed desires, I hope that the communistsociety
of the future does not encourage me to act them out.!

Michael Yates

Carrol Cox wrote:
> 
> Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> >  But Carrol tells us
> > we don't need to have a theory of psychology; blame it all on
> > neurotransmitters, or don't blame it on anything at all. The
> > revolution will resolve the Neurotransmitter Problem.
> 
> Come on Doug, you're a better reader than that. I specifically
> said (1) that neurotransmitters do *not* explain any problem
> at all and (2) [sharpening a bit] that revolutionaries and reformists
> *both* ought to recognize some limits to human knowledge. You
> seem to believe that human knowledge is infinite, and that therefore
> before we can act we must have a detailed map of all future
> social and individual possibilities.
> 
> Carrol