Reply to Ted and Brad

[Ken Hanly]

Why need this be ironic? If Jameson means that the economic approach is
valuable for understanding human behavior under capitalism?
Relationships become based upon pure self interest and everything is
commodified. Isnt this akin to Marx's view? But this is also roughly
Becker's approach to interpreting marriage
THis is not to deny the essential differences that Ted points out-- quite
lucidly I may add. Becker's model may be a helpful one but it fails to
reveal the distortion of human relationships involved and thus to provide
any critique of capitalism.

Surely neo-liberals and radicals do not share the same world view. If both
shared the same world view why would one group laud the total system and the
other denounce it.
Surely it is because they see basic differences in it. Radicals think that
there are all sorts of oppression of workers, women, gays, aboriginals etc.
Do neo-liberals share this world view. Neo-liberals see consumers as
autonomous and contractual relations as free under capitalism; radicals see
it as the opposite. THese are the same world view? How.??

What is the significance of  Adorno saying that truth  is the mediation of
extremes, seems someone else said that with respect to virtue a bit
earlier..What is important is his argument for this. Or is some sort of
argument to authority?

Cheers, Ken Hanly
----

- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Robert Redmond <dredmond at efn.org>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: Reply to Ted and Brad


> On Wed, 4 Jul 2001, Ted Winslow wrote:
>
> > Jameson can see nothing wrong with (and no essential incompatibility
with
> > Marx in) the "core" of Gary Becker's "admirably totalizing approach"
i.e.
> > with Becker's claim that "the economic approach provides a valuable
> > framework for understanding all human behavior."
>
> Um. Fred is being heavily ironic. Later he goes on to say that radicals
> and neoliberals pretty much share the same world-view -- except for the
> essential thing, i.e. the neolibs laud the total system, while we denounce
> it; it's only the middle-of-the-road types who vehemently reject the idea
> that something like capitalism might actually exist. Adorno says
> somewhere, actually, that the truth lies in the mediation of extremes, not
> the bad compromise between the two...
>
> -- Dennis
>
>
>