On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 12:43:50 -0800 (PST) Thomas Seay
<entheogens at yahoo.com> writes:
>
> --- Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com> wrote:
> > I don't know where Peter SInger gets off in claiming
> > that
> > Marx denies the existence of a specifically human
> > nature.
>
> Have either of you (Jim or Charles) even read his
> essay on the subject?
In the "Butterflies and Wheels" article, Singer's views are characterized as follows: --------------------------- Singer argues that the left’s utopianism has failed to take account of human nature, because it has denied there is such a thing as a human nature. For Marx, it is the "ensemble of social relations" which makes us the people we are, and so, as Singer points out, "It follows from this belief that if you can change the ‘ensemble of social relations’, you can totally change human nature."
The corruption and authoritarianism of so-called Marxist and communist states in this century is testament to the naïveté of this view. As the anarchist Bakunin said, once even workers are given absolute power, "they r epresent not the people but themselves … Those who doubt this know nothing at all about human nature." ------------------------------------------------------------- That looks to me like Singer is contending that Marx denied the existence of human nature.
>
> I didn't think so.
>
> Thomas
>
> =====
> <<If God existed, Lou Proyect wouldn't >> Thomas Seay circa 2004
>
>
>
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