[lbo-talk] The zen of marx (was clarification)

[Chris Doss]

This is actually a very interesting comment. But... I know little about Eastern philosophy, so I could be wrong, but doesn't it mostly conceive of freedom in the Stoic sense, as doing what needs to be done, as making your desires coincide with necessity (of eliminating desire), whereas for Marx freedom os about overcoming necessity (which can't actually be done, but anyhoo).

----- Original Message ----
From: Joanna <123hop at comcast.net>

I don't know if we're on the same page here, but for me, Marx takes eastern philosophy one crucial step forward.
(The dialectic is the western equivalent of the east's awareness of the falseness of duality.)

Eastern philosophy requires a coming to consciousness through awareness of social and other conditioning.  That is, you cannot be free until you become aware of all that binds you, of all that has shaped you. To that, Marx adds the variable of history as a material force that must be factored into that coming to consciousness. That is we must understand what history is and how it shapes those forces that shape us.

OK. There's plenty here to have me pilloried so I'll stop now.

Joanna

___________________________________
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk