Milton, "post-leftism", etc.

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Thu Aug 22 10:38:14 PDT 2002



> > > Anarchism doesn't call for a "wholesale change of heart," because it sees
> > > that most people already have libertarian and cooperative instincts. The
> > > problem is getting rid of the state and capitalism so that people can have
> > > total freedom to develop and explore these tendencies.
> > > << Chuck0 >>


> > I'd appreciate more thought on this subject as well. It's problematic. I
> > can't say, like Chuck0, that people "already" have
> > libertarian/cooperative instincts. But that doesn't diminish the
> > desirability of a society that has production and distribution organized
> > along egalitarian lines, either.

Andrew_Sawtelle at brown.edu:
> I'm firmly in the camp that "human nature", at least a large
> part of it, is no help at all if we're trying to create an
> egalitarian and anti-authoritarian society. Ernest Becker has
> some very good insights on the nature of social evil and
> attempts to change society in "Escape from Evil". His thesis
> is (sort of) the psychological equivalent of Dawkins: we need
> to understand what really drives human activity at the most
> basic level if we're going to try to create a society that
> (probably) works in spite of those forces. > > /andrew

What do you mean by "works"? Feudalism, capitalism and even Naziism work perfectly well for certain visions of the good life. Presumably you have some fundamental desire, anterior to utility and instrumentality, for an egalitarian, anti- authoritarian society, which must emanate from _your_ "human nature". If we're really _evil_ there's no need to change the world; we just need to make up our minds to enjoy it fully. It would be foolish to do anything else.

-- Gordon



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