[lbo-talk] [SPAM_ISU] :Re: Of flying cars and the declining rate of profit

[Eric Beck]

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 10:45 AM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> Doug gives (or cites) an excellent definition of historicism -- which is
> Graebeer's quite false mode of analysis. Origins of a phenomenon DO NOT
> EXPLAIN IT. Historicists assume that origins define meaning. That fallacy
> pervades Graeber's thought..

I think what Graeber was trying to do was outline a still-relevant
economic category that's doesn't arise from capitalism, that is in
many ways a state/political concern even if it's "economic," and that
spans a much longer period than capitalism--state societies are much
much older than capitalist societies, after all. This in itself meant
he was going to greeted by the ultimate Marxist jeer--historicism! But
then he made the situation worse by actually being historicist, as
Carrol says.