Re: philosophical/theoretic explanation

12/2/2000, Sabri wrote:
 > So, maybe, you shouldn't look at that excerpt in isolation.

I guess my question really is 'What can I learn from
Marxism?'.

What Ismail posted I already know from present experience,
and it isn't theoretical or philosophical, as Ismail agreed
in a private response.

The theoretical part, as I understand it, has to do with
Hegelian cycles, the dialectic of class conflict, the
inevitable collapse of capitalism due to contradictions,
etc.

Typically, people cite the accuracy of Marx's description of
capitalism as a reason to believe the rest of Marx.  I find
no logical validity in such a suggestion.

Other times, people seem to imply that proclaiming oneself a
Marxist declares one's solidarity with the working class,
and that rejecting Marxism is a betrayal of some kind.  I
reject the subversion of science by politics in this way.  I
do not believe truth is ever the enemy of justice.

Adam Smith came up with a model.  The model makes sense, but
it is not a model that applies to a capitalist economy. The
forces Smith identified do operate, but they are trumped by
other forces which violate the assumptions of his model. 
Capitalist apologists who cite Smith are wrong logically,
though in most cases their efforts are propagandistic and
logic is an inappropriate basis on which to judge them.

Marx came up with a model.  He identified certain forces and
predicted those forces would play themselves out in a
certain way.   I don't see it happening.  Instead, I see
elite agency changing the rules as necessary to keep society
on a certain path.  You might say Marx predicted the course
of a river based on geological formations, not realizing
someone was going to build dams and dikes and move the river
somewhere else. Perhaps if he hadn't published, history
might have gone more the way he predicted.

If my assessment is wrong, I'd be happy to revise it.  But I
would need evidence and logic of a kind I haven't yet
encountered.  If that isn't forthcoming from this list, then
I doubt if it can be found anywhere.

rkm