[lbo-talk] Bertrand Russell "Considered purely as a philosopher, Marx has grave shortcomings.

[c b]

>> On some basic level, it's true. He believed change for the better was
> possible.
>> In this life.
>
> _Possible_ but NOT certain. It depends on the uncertain outcomes of multiple
> struggles.
>
> That is not remotely related to anything that could be called "Optimism."
> And I suspect Russell uses "optimism" in the technical sense in which it was
> used in reference to 18th-c theodicies. "Best of all possible worlds" etc.
>
> Carrol
>
> P.S. I think very highly of Russell; I learned a great deal back in the '40s
> & '50s reading his works. But he was no expert on Marx or Marx's thought.
> And there was no reason he should have been.

CB: Marx's response to philosophers:
XI

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the
point is to change it.
>