[lbo-talk] Marx's Rejection of a Moral Critique of Capital

c b cb31450 at gmail.com
Mon Apr 16 07:56:31 PDT 2012


Ethics or morality is a judgment of how we treat _other_ people, our selflessness. Self-interested acts may be immoral or amoral. Marx and Engels appeal to the self-interest of the working class in the main thesis of Marxism. Thus , the main thesis of Marxism is amoral. However, Marx and Engels themselves were not working class , so their enormous work on behalf of the working class is selfless and thereby moral. Marxism appeals to the working class to act out of self-interest, not to act out of moral outrage against the capitalists. Marxism does appeal to the middle strata, intellectuals, lbo-talk to act out of moral concern.

Also, our anti-Koch brother rhetoric is aimed at an audience that is overwhelmingly non-Marxist; So, appeals to their sense of moral outrage at the Koch's is necessary.

Charles


>
> Moral criticism of the Koch brothers is anti-Marxist.
>
> Carrol

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There is a legitimate distinction between non-Marxist and anti-Marxist arguments regarding profits, investment, coercion, causality etc. Just as there are legitimate critiques of the same that eschew moral discourse altogether.

Ian



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