[lbo-talk] "Theory's Empire," an anti-"Theory" anthology

Charles Brown charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us
Sat May 31 05:54:21 PDT 2008


Jerry Monaco

I basically agree with Jerry Fodor and Julius Moravcsik (and from what I uderstand even Heidegger and strangely enough Althusser): Where there is human intention and human meaning there is no scientific theory. "Intention" and "meaning" themselves are paradoxes and in order to produce a workable theoretical model, it is necessary to exclude them. Theory is basically anti-humanist or it doesn't work. What we call meaning and what we call "intention" is inscrutable from the point of view theory.

^^^ CB: This is very helpful in specifying the non-Marxist point of view on this point. Marx's position is the opposite of this. Science is based in discovering necessary connections. Here "necessary" is exactly as in the logical _modus ponens_ or "if-then", if p, then q, q is a necessary condition of p. In the Realm of Necessity, ( Marx and Engels used the term "necessity" here precisely to make the point I am making here) there is a science of human conduct based on the things that human must do. As Marx and Engels had to explain to "the Germans" in _The German Ideology_, humans have physiological necessities. In meeting these, there arise scientifically discernable patterns in their behavior ( See the theses on materialism I just posted to the list yesterday.

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