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

123hop at comcast.net 123hop at comcast.net
Tue Jun 5 10:25:42 PDT 2012


I didn't really feel that Graeber was arguing that origins explain things.

For me, the liberating thing about "Debt," was simply being given alternate perspectives through which to look at money and debt, and social organization.

A good antidote to the TINA approach.

Joanna

----- Original Message ----- 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.. (And I have been reading, or rather listening, to his book.)

Carrol

-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 6:02 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [SPAM_ISU] :Re: [lbo-talk] Of flying cars and the declining rate of profit

On Jun 5, 2012, at 3:52 AM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:


> what do you mean by "hostility to economics"?

The state is always paramount, the first and last cause of everything. So there's this, and his lack of a discussion of how debt (never credit) functions under capitalism. Roger Lancaster (an anthropologist) had a nice comment on Facebook - there's a tendency among anthros to look for explanations of modern behavior in classic texts and earlier societies and say that's it, they've explained the phenomenon. So debt hasn't changed all that much in 5,000 years. Money either.

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

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