[lbo-talk] Re: quote

[Turbulo at aol.com]

What's independent of each can't be independent of all. He commits a
fallacy of composition. Our understanding of the interdependency of
intentionality and action has come a long way since H&M. The rhetoric
of 'behind the backs of the producers' is way overblown.

--------------------------

The collective result of individual actions can be unintended by any of the 
individual actors. If over the years each man hews him down a bough for 
firewood, the end result may be deforestation, making it impossible for anyone to 
light a fire.

Marx expands upon this notion in the German Ideology, where he says:

"And finally, the division of labor offers us the first example of how, as 
long as man remains in natural society, that is as long as a cleavage exists 
between the particular and the common interest, as long therefore as activity is 
not voluntary, but naturally divided, man's own deed becomes an alien power 
opposed to him, which enslaves him instead of being controlled by him.   

                                        ......

   "This crystallization of social activity, this consolidation of what we 
ourselves produce into an objective power above us, growing out of our control, 
thwarting our expectations, bringing to naught our calculations, is one of the 
chief factors in historical development up to now..." New York, 1960, pp. 
22-23)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <../attachments/20050509/fbd4d15b/attachment.htm>