[PEN-L:32970] RE: Re: Whitehead and Marx

["Forstater, Mathew" <ForstaterM@xxxxxxxx>]

This kind of thing has done been done, of course, both specifically Marx
and Whitehead, and generally Marx and _______, where the blank is your
favorite philosopher or philosophical tradition (that fills in or
elaborates something missing or underemphasized in Marx, according to
the author).  See, e.g., _Marx via process: Whitehead's potential
contribution to Marxian social theory_ by Russell L. Kleinbach. Or
_Dialectical phenomenology: Marx's method_ by Roslyn Wallach Bologh, or
_Marx and Wittgenstein: social praxis and social explanation_ by David
Rubinstein.  Personally, I like some of this, not so much because I find
some gap in Marx that needs to be filled, but because considering the
diverse contributions of different thinkers can lead to interesting
insights and perspectives.


-----Original Message-----
From: Louis Proyect [mailto:lnp3@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 5:33 PM
To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [PEN-L:32969] Re: Whitehead and Marx


>http://www.fordham.edu/philosophy/processphilosophy/papers/Pomeroy.htm

My claim is this: that there exists a striking similarity between a
Whiteheadian ontology and the ontological presuppositions that
necessarily
ground Marx's claims regarding the source of capitalist surplus value
and
that, therefore, if one holds to a Whiteheadian process ontology, then
one
must simultaneously support Marx's critique of capitalism as it is
presented in what has been named the Labor Theory of Value. There will
be
four moments to the defense of this claim. The first will consist of a
characterization of economic activity in general as processive
production;
the second will outline and describe Whiteheadian ontology; the third
will
delineate the Marxian ontology hidden in the analysis of the mode of
productive activity specific to capitalism; the last will consist of my
conclusions.

---

This is the first time I've seen somebody with leftist aspirations try
to
utilize Whitehead since David Harvey did it in "Justice, Nature and the
Geography of Difference." Why this need exists to resuscitate late 19th
century metaphysics is beyond me.



Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org