'Marxists are... Determinists'

'Marxists are... Determinists' | Stephen Hicks

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John Anderson

Жыл бұрын

Stephen Hicks on Marxism

Пікірлер: 87

@jackmiddleton2080 11 ай бұрын

It is also not a coincidence that people born into abundance tend to believe in volition. It is a pretty solidly recorded human tendency. The more you have the more you think it was your own doing and the less you have the more you think it was because of someone else.

@SuperSushidog 11 ай бұрын

Actually, people who are successful at life, regardless of the economic circumstances of their birth believe in volition. How else would you explain: Thomas Sowell, Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Herschel Walker, Tim Scott, Candice Owens, or scores of other successful black conservatives who started life in poverty, from a broken home, etc. who all believe in individual free agency and self-determined human potential. It's a self fulfilling prophesy really. Regardless which camp you're in, you're right.

@jackmiddleton2080 11 ай бұрын

@@SuperSushidog Like I said it is a tendency. There will be acceptations, but that being said I would check the record of those people's character BEFORE they were successful. Because I have seen people that become successful while doubting volition and then once they are successful through luck, they then believe in volition because of survivorship bias.

@jamesbaldwin9197 10 ай бұрын

@@SuperSushidogEasy! these black conservatives have abandoned their communities in the struggle for racial and economic justice. In return, they get massive paycheck from rich white conservatives a badge of honorary whiteness (one of the “good ones”). Where did the rich white conservatives get their money? Centuries of colonial and capitalist exploitations of the very same BIPOC communities that black grifters have abandoned to despair and ruin

@Mrtrigrhappy 10 ай бұрын

@@SuperSushidog Those are the exceptions, not the standard

@SuperSushidog 10 ай бұрын

@@Mrtrigrhappy I agree. Being rich is the exception in any culture. The point is that the US is more of a meritocracy than not. Socialist and communist countries have almost no upward mobility. You're only rich there if you were born into the ruling class. Here, an average teenager can create a unique but needed phone app, sell a couple million copies for 99 cents each and be a millionaire before they graduate high school. Sure, only a few will actually do this, but there is no incentive to do this under Marxism where your profits will be taken from you and redistributed to others who didn't earn it. This is why, for all its faults, 90% of the world's medical advancements have come from the USA - because the doctors who develop the new lifesaving medical technique, or the labs who come up with the new miracle drug get rewarded appropriately for doing so. Marxism punishes innovation; capitalism rewards it.

@youbigtubership Жыл бұрын

That is why the Soviet Union and CCP went out to capture philosophy and more broadly humanities departments. They could steer the whole ship by destroying agency at its root.

@wazza33racer 11 ай бұрын

The globalists are the true originators of marxism, he was one of "them".

@grizzlygrizzle 10 ай бұрын

The secret hypocrisy of Marxists is that the leaders hoard agency to themselves, while imposing determinism and futility onto the masses.

@MrTodayistheday 11 ай бұрын

Well done. This explains why teachers in the public education system are promoting socialist views. Very few of them have taken courses in economics. Instead, most have been exposed to an education system that does not even reward achievement. Our teachers need to start taking economics courses. If they did, they would understand that capitalism is fairer than socialism.

@nigelkelley3004 Жыл бұрын

I love Stephen Hicks’ clear thinking on politics and philosophy and his ability to share his thoughts in an easily understandable way. He is a great thinker and someone who is much needed in the current climate.

@zeldaharris6876 Жыл бұрын

So true. Learn critical thinking.

@kyleolcott1769 11 ай бұрын

Based on the statistics we have, though, what he's saying is wrong. You can fairly accurately determine what someone's net worth will be from the moment they are born.

@svenva 11 ай бұрын

@@kyleolcott1769 id say thats half true. it is true for a group but it does not mean anything for you as an individual, and in the end, you are an individual primarily. it is not like being part of a group locks you into place (except if you believe that is the case, then there's no reason to work to escape)

@kyleolcott1769 11 ай бұрын

@@svenva Where you are born is a good indicator of your future socioeconomic position later in life. Of course, people will overcome the setbacks they're born with, but statistically, they are more likely to not. If it were truly up to the individual, then a person from a low income family would have just as much of a chance to have a high income as someone born into a high income family. We know, however, that isn't the case.

@SuperSushidog 11 ай бұрын

@@kyleolcott1769 This may be true in socialist countries, but in the US, we have a high degree of economic mobility. How do you explain then the fact that most millionaires in the US are self-made, most of the top 1% of Americans are first generation, and many people in the top 1% move in and out of it throughout their lifetime. Inherited wealth in the US typically lasts no more than 3 generations. The US is a much more meritocratic country than almost any other. This is the essence of the American dream - that a penniless immigrant can come here and in less than 3 generations can achieve high degree of wealth and prosperity. If you doubt that look aa Asian immigrants' success record. As evidence I submit that Indian Americans are the wealthiest demographic in America, whose earnings are nearly double the national average.

@kyleolcott1769 11 ай бұрын

@@SuperSushidog Unless the statistic you stated shows that over 99% of the 1% are first generation, that statistic supports my claim that you are more likely to be financially successful if you come from a high-income family. If you have a group of several hundred million people, some of them will undoubtedly make lucky choices and enter the 1%.

@pikiwiki 11 ай бұрын

Spot on. Nicely developed and explained

@Mega4sTER 9 ай бұрын

...it's also why having a correctly informed moral compass is critical.

@ruvanefriebus-cv6td 11 ай бұрын

That's why democracy won't ever work

@robertfranklin598 10 ай бұрын

Never trust a man with a ponytail

@billysheppard6091 11 ай бұрын

Democracy is one of the most honorable and noble forms of all governments.., but one of the most fragile forms of all governments..that can change at any time... semper fi

@alexanderwhite298 11 ай бұрын

One is conditioned to think in a certain way, take religion, economic systems, and political system. So what one thinks is determined by how the grew up. That's why one must be taught how to think critically.

@jamesbaldwin9197 10 ай бұрын

Exactly, this is why Marxist thought is so important. So-called “free thinkers” will question everything except the dominant culture, ideology, and economic system they were raised in.

@nemo-x 11 ай бұрын

As always neither is correct, but a mixture of the two is close.

@jacoblape 11 ай бұрын

In the game of Monopoly you all start out with the same amount of money. In Life you can be born with zero or below zero.

@briansharvill1794 11 ай бұрын

if you are any kind of intelligent human being you know that life is neither individual agency nor environmental determinism but a mixture of BOTH determination and agency working together. We all have our given state of being, we are born with much of it written into our very fundamental self by means of our genetics and there really is nothing to do but accept it and use it for whatever it is that makes your world a better place for everyone around you, in this manner you recognize your determination and you accept your agency and responsibility. THAT is what Democracy used to be about before America was taught that civic responsibility is now bad and its every man for themself.

@Arbidarb 10 ай бұрын

I'm glad he clarified his argument by calling them *environmental* determinists.

@peterclark6290 Жыл бұрын

Collectivists know they need to be controlled by Autocrats Individualists know they provide the control and the means Avoid the most robust and dynamic Democracy at your peril, provide an Of, By and For system that is resilient: one weakness - high literacy required

@80Day_bender Жыл бұрын

Democracy is already a form of collectivism. Notice the tax decisions run from government meaning that your agency over your income, your wealth is taken away.

@richvestal767 9 ай бұрын

That's why rue battles between free market advocates and socialists/communists is really a battle between moral objectivism vs moral subjectivism. FM advocates are individualists and their ethic necessarily involve a standard of reciprocity that governs all interactions. Call it "fairness" or mutual self-benefit" or whatever you want. The interactions are where the objective nature of the thing emerges. On the contrary socialists/communists in their subjectivism believe that its not an objective standard that governs interactions, but rather subjective conditioners who are in power that set the standard. So their answer is just to remove a set of conditioners on the one hand and swap those out for other conditioners that will condition society according to their whims.

@kieferonline 10 ай бұрын

Here is a video on the internet with substance!

@DavidSmith-fz8ju 10 ай бұрын

Its.the collective reasoning that marks them.all women/all blacks/all men.not individuals.

@larsmichael6242 10 ай бұрын

The problem is that volition is an axiom, not provable fact. Determinism however is the foundational fact we base all scientific endeavors on

@simonpetrikov3992 3 ай бұрын

Well is fact automatically greater than an axiom?

@larsmichael6242 3 ай бұрын

@@simonpetrikov3992 Well, depends if you value being able to tell if you're wrong or not. If it turns out we do have some magical ghost thingy inside our biological vessels, where our decisions comes from, then that will be a provable fact at some point. Thus far nothing of the sort is on the scientific radar. Nothing points towards it. It seems like if we get brain damage in certain areas of the brain, we lose those particular faculties or parts of our "personality". That's why it's referred to as "the ghost in the machine", 'cause for some reason we're certain there should be some kind of soul in there, but just like ghosts, no matter how much you look, there's nothing there. Why? Because it's made-up. It's just as far from reality as if I said you should look for a leprechaun making your decisions. You just happen to find leprechauns more obviously imaginary than "free will". Scientifically they are equally (in)valid. The reason it's stuck being an axiom is that as soon as you try n find an explanation for "free will" other than "because i say so", it stops being free and turns into just another link in the causal chain. Just take a look in your own life. How many actions in your daily routine could you call "free". Are they not bound by your reason, driven by your needs and desires, and predetermined by whatever preferences you either was born with or was conditioned into you by your environment. Can you choose to prefer chocolate over vanilla ice-cream, or are you just stuck with which ever preference you might have? Every choice you make is like a coin flip. It could land on heads or tails, the physics of which are all there to be scrutinized and understood, and if you toss the same toss twice, with all factors being equal, the coin will always land the same. Asserting "free will" is to say that human beings are (for no apparent reason) the only magical coins that can toss the same exact toss and potentially land differently.

@tiamoore2861 11 ай бұрын

Democracy is mob rule or socialist. He is using the wrong word, he means constitutional republic

@reddiver7293 9 ай бұрын

Thank God we are a democratic Republic, not a pure democracy.

@juankovacs6033 10 ай бұрын

I think none of both is completely correct or accurate. You do born in a certain socioeconomic class. You are influenced by the morals you were thought. It is hard to understand for higher echelons of wealth the actual struggles of the lower echelons. But you do have volition and you can change those things. The basic flaw in Marxist theory is the war of classes, and determinism is basically depriving the individual of higher potential. You can overcome poverty (is not easy though, and not everyone has the tools for doing so) and you can understand the struggles of the poor being wealthy.

@555Trout Жыл бұрын

Gotta take it down a level. It's actually congenital. You are born bovine(marxist), or not.

@real_john_doe Жыл бұрын

Lol

@pblogger9065 10 ай бұрын

I really don't understand your fear of Marx. I can't find Marxists anywhere. On the other hand, you can find lots of corporate apologists claiming everyone is a Marxist.

@rzrwiresunrise 9 ай бұрын

Hahahahahahaha Who are these ppl? What is this show? The clips so far have been some of the most hilarious buckets of drool LOL

@waterskiing451 Жыл бұрын

This guy doesn't understand the main ideals that sparked the American Revolution and the idea of individual freedom and responsibility....individuality is important to make the human nature strive for better.....thinking in only economic or ethnic groups is purely wrong because it is the individual not the state that determines your success

@zeldaharris6876 Жыл бұрын

??? that's what he said.

@j.p.vanbolhuis8678 11 ай бұрын

Listen again. Spot the "if" , from there onwards he describes why marxism doesn't work with democracy and individual agency. If you listen again, then you will find he says what you say.

@jamesbaldwin9197 10 ай бұрын

I can tell you have never read Marx, Engels or Lenin. Marxism aims to evaluate the material (economic) conditions that give rise to our political and social structures, and then to CHANGE these structures. We will not wait until human nature is different to achieve communism, rather we must build a new economic system within the confines of our material circumstances and human nature. The error that non-Marxists make is to assume that certain arbitrary hierarchies of race, class, gender, etc are baked into human nature rather than the products of knowable material relations. i.e. a certain amount of “tribalism” may be part of “human nature”, but formalized anti-black and anti-indigenous racism (chattel slavery, jim crow, etc) were the direct products of european colonial exploitation of africa, asia, and the americas. Marxism is not deterministic, if merely follows existing trends to their natural and logical conclusions. This doesn’t in any way stop individual human agency from shaping the material conditions of the world and therefore subtly influencing the trajectory of society’s development. If you’ve read this far, check out Second Thought and The Deprogram on youtube. Even if you aren’t convinced by Marxism, you have an obligation to understand it’s principles before explaining why they are wrong. Again, the majority of criticisms leveled against Marx and Communism in general reveal that the critic has absolutely no understanding of what Marxist thinkers actually believe.

@petersweeney5777 11 ай бұрын

Another word salad moment brought to you by higher education.

@paradigm-wx6bn 11 ай бұрын

MARXIST thought is THAT(!) asinine???

@GenericInternetter 11 ай бұрын

it's amazing how both sides can be so right and so wrong at the same time. democracy is a system that presumes equality of opportunity, which is clearly not the case. marxism is a system that preaches equality of outcome, which is clearly never the case. sorry but there is a solution, and neither of those are it.

@heartofpuregold Жыл бұрын

Interesting

@FrancisMetal 11 ай бұрын

he never red Marx. Moreover, Gramsci debunked deterministic interpretation of Marx

@webadage 10 ай бұрын

Someone tell this guy that we don't have a democracy. We have a democratic republic.

@emilybung5890 10 ай бұрын

Actually, this system we are in would be called Post Democracy, look up the book with the same name.

@nisonatic 10 ай бұрын

No, we have a kakistocracy.

@TheDynamicmarket 11 ай бұрын

for a people that do everything for the national interest, go to wars which the ends and beginnings the us citizens cannot affect, this does not seem to be true at all. national interest of the us put many people all over the world in danger.