G. A. Cohen on Marx & the German Ideology (2009)

[@Khuno2]

First rate. This must've been one of Professor Cohen's final interviews.

[@--__.--]

This is clearly not his voice though.

[@parhamrahimi8050]

@@--__.-- It is, if you keep listening. His impression of the "Oxford accent" is classic G.A. Cohen. He's just really old and tired in this interview

[@tomisaacson2762]

Loved his book Why Not Socialism. Highly recommend it.

[@arono9304]

Read "On the Scalability of Cooperative Structures: Remarks on G. A. Cohen, Why Not Socialism" by Joseph Heath

[@tylerhulsey982]

The Oxford accent lol

[@pilleater]

@@Sam-_- Cohen is known for his funny voice acting during lectures, most of it unrecorded. He's actually a great comedian!

[@pilleater]

I love his Canadian accent.

[@sethrogaine]

I thought is he going to say, and he said it, "the toothbrush." what a putz

[@e45127]

Did they compare estrangement before and after the industrial revolution at all?

[@alaspooryorick9946]

Absolutely :) In most of Marx and Engels' work this comes up. Probably the best place is in volume one of Capital, but everything from Engels' Condition of the Working Class in England 1844 to the later Ethnological Notebooks of the end of Marx's life looks at precapitalist relations. If you want to start somewhere I'd say volume one, particularly the section on 'so called primitive accumulation'

[@e45127]

@@alaspooryorick9946 OK, I just think it seems hard to get everyone of all of history into one estrangement index. I mean, what is the baseline when they write about conditions in capitalism? In the 19th century the industrial revolution had been going on for a while(?).

[@johnnyroycerichardsoniii3273]

@@alaspooryorick9946 - The working class had it rough at the beginning of the industrial revolution, there is no denying that. The free market is essentially a large computer that makes innumerable calculations instantaneously, pricing goods, supply and demand, etc… Soviet Russia was infamous for a shortage of goods and a lack of quality of life, as well as every other centrally planned economy, how did Marx and Engels cope with the impossible task of central planning as it relates to the supply of goods in a free market economy? Like in theory you could plan for a society to have a few goods like a toothbrush as the lecture mentioned but what about a “few more” goods? Ex: How would they plan for the one off anomalies that occur in a family’s life where a sick child may need special care and medicine? How does a central planning entity plan for the uniqueness and unique circumstances that make us all humans in our needs and consumptions?

[@e45127]

@@johnnyroycerichardsoniii3273 I agree.

[@kha30s22]

@@johnnyroycerichardsoniii3273 true central problem has many problems too, they are not perfect. That's why you need a system that's a mix of central planning and privatization.

[@thetruthoutside8423]

Yes, it is a strange. Everything we do and work for has been strange unnatural.

[@thetruthoutside8423]

Excellent by all means and levels, I always thought that Marx like chaplain are Gods, hhhhhhhhaaa. And the reasons are simple, because of the level of detail of human conditions and their abservation to them and the way the conveyed them to us each one in his way.

[@johnnyroycerichardsoniii3273]

Meh, (17:45) markets are not ONLY driven by fear and greed. Self interested benefit should be a factor in his analysis as it’s the foundation, generally speaking, of any “free” market economy. There is no practical aspects to their utopian idealism it is merely theory. He says bluntly that this marxist idea of an abundant future is worth pursuing without any knowledge of outcomes. So in another words let’s implement this theory, displace billions in their current way of life because the great society we have dreamt up in fantasy will be worth it!!! Disgusting if you really think about the suffering that would have to occur.

[@MrGross-nm6dl]

That was already done with capitalism.

[@johnnyroycerichardsoniii3273]

@@MrGross-nm6dl Preposterous notion. Free Market Capitalism under the direction of The United States of America has raised the living standard of man to a level unparalleled in all of human history. It has catapulted man into a “5,000 year leap” to quote the great scholar Cleon Skousen. Please provide a counter argument that is sound or troll on. Likely you will just troll on.. A commonality I have recognized amongst the “anti capitalism” group think contagion besides a lack of reason is a predominance of feelings like bitterness, envy, jealousy, resentment, revenge because they lack the fortitude and character to “make the system work for them” and so they spend their lives tearing down and using simplistic made up narratives that reject the real narratives based on facts which is a narrative that is essentially pro Christianity, free markets with small government, pro individual responsibility, respect for the divinity and dignity of each person who is superior to the “group” in the eyes of the state which brings order and stabilizes a society. It is hard to build anything because it takes soul, and it is soulless to just go around tearing down straw men. Any collectivists want to lay out a “sound” logical argument!!?

[@jimbrown1576]

He's blind to any other morality; his is Altuism and only Altuusm.

[@jimbrown1576]

The etymology of the concept, "utopia", is appropriate in the the context of your discussion. It literally means nowhere.

[@MrGross-nm6dl]

@@jimbrown1576 what about the transition into capitalism, which displaced countless amounts of people starting with the taken of the commons.