[lbo-talk] Liberal Intellectuals and the Coordinator Class

[Tayssir John Gabbour]

On 7/17/07, Robert Wrubel <bobwrubel at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Taysir quotes Robin Hahnel:
> > "But what is common to all human societies is the elaboration of
> > social relationships for the joint identification and pursuit of
> > individual need fulfillment."
>
> It seems silly to speak about this in the abstract, since the above
> remark can nowhere by observed or tested. Few if any humans in
> history have had the opportunity to create the social institutions
> they live under.

There are organizations which can help you build intentional
communities, and tell you of existing ones. I'm sure they're not 100%
free of their enclosing nation-state, but many have a good deal of
autonomy (or so I think). Try http://ic.org/ .


> It would be more honest if Hahnel had said "I believe that, given
> freedom from need, humans might respond in a selfless, cooperative
> way in constructing their society."

But that has a different meaning. In the quote above, he just said
people make social relationships. Nothing about selflessness, unless I
misread.

Personally, I don't think it's healthy or desirable to be selfless.


> How can we know the answer, until we actually try
> something?

Fully agreed. And even if we experiment, we wouldn't ever fully know.

Tayssir