[lbo-talk] Living beyond one's means

[Miles Jackson]

Chris Doss wrote:
> This is actually not at all what most such people's experience is.
> However, it does bear a close resemblance to the "I can't go on, I'll
> go on" ethos that characterizes psychological defense mechanisms
> against depression.
> 
> --- On Wed, 12/24/08, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
>> Those of us who are actually working to destroy capitalism (whether
>> as Marxists or under some other heading) merely one day found 
>> ourselves alrready in that process and looked around for an
>> analysis which would clarify (NOT justify) that struggle.
>> 
>> 
>> Carrol

An ad hominem from the philosopher?  On Christmas Eve?  The horror!

Not that C. needs any help, but the social psychological research on 
this is clear: changes in behavior and social conditions lead to changes 
in attitudes and beliefs.  It is not that people consistently act on the 
basis of their well developed beliefs (moral or otherwise); rather, 
people act and then shift their beliefs as needed to justify their actions.

I know this directly challenges our culturally embedded notion of 
personhood; we assume that moral behavior is simply a psychological 
product of the "proper" belief system.  Why this assumption?  The common 
sense notion of the autonomous agent is an ideological precipitate of 
capitalist social relations.  The free market literally creates people 
who must rationally calculate and choose among commodities, investments, 
and jobs.  Without the incessant valorization via capitalist social 
relations, would the notion of the rational, self-determining agent 
persist?  I wonder.

Cheers,

Miles