[lbo-talk] Self (was variety etc.)

[C. G. Estabrook]

"...the essence of individualism is not so much to emphasize the
individual rather than the collective -- whether methodologically or
morally -- as to frame all questions according to an ostensible
antithesis between the individual and the collective."  

This remark (from the the conservative philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre)
seems to me to suggest why a certain individualism should characterize the
capitalist era and why socialists have always been skeptical of it, in
spite of the obvious truth of Tahir's observation. --CGE

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004, Tahir Wood wrote:


> "The real disaster is the continued fetishization of the individual and
> the cancer of individualism (hedonists and slaves to personal desire
> will disagree LOL).  Once the interdependence of reality is
> comprehended, then the illusion of self falls away and real progress
> can begin to be made (see Nargarjuna The Fundamental Wisodm of the
> Middle Way)." --Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister
> 
> "Illusion of self"? When the torturer tortures and the tortured
> screams where is the illusion of self? Do both feel each other's pain?
> Thanks, but I'm going to try to look after my little "self" as long as
> I've still got it. Communism to me means the full emancipation of
> individuality, which I feel is denied under capitalism. I want much
> more self, not less. Tahir
>