Re: Lisa replies re: Lisa's anthro

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

>
>     Students of special topics or subjects or members of particular
> professions should not be over-anxious to make their particular field
> "politically relevant" or "relevant to Marxism." I would agree that
> vulgar Marxism covers about 90% of reality, but the remaining 10%
> includes an awful lot.
>     Carrol

I agree. You can't just look up some formula in a dialectical materialism
cookbook and slap it on whatever subject you're investigating. This is the
complete opposite of the Marxist method anyway.

Dialectical materialism does provide a better framework than any other approach
to scientific investigation, because it naturally incorporates change, both 
gradual
and sudden, and looking at part in relation to the whole, without abandoning
materialism. This in itself justifies its use - it helps with scientific
investigation, other frameworks tend to hinder it.

However, particularly in the case of early human societies, it has to be
recognised that this areas of investigation is an ideological minefield, and has
been since before Darwin. There are all sorts of right wing arguments about 
human
nature based on a false view of the history of human society. In particular,
it is argued that class society has always existed, that women have always been
oppressed, that the state has always existed, etc etc, as I'm sure Carrol + Lisa
are aware. I'm sure they have academic disagreements with the same people that 
they
have political disagreements with, by + large, although of course Marxists can ,
indeed have to, learn from the work of non Marxists ( eg Engels + Morgan ).

Finally, these discussions enable us to clarify concepts + methods which are
of direct practical use in our everyday struggle against capitalism. After all,
a discussion of the centrality of Labour in the transition from ape to man is 
not
a million miles away from a discussion of the centrality of Labour in the
transition from capitalism to socialism :-) .

Adam.


Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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