Suchergebnisse

Draws on Georg Lukacs's concept of reification to argue that a new form of reification that applies to late capitalism has emerged from the unpatterned naturalistic chaos associated with the hegemonic rise of speculative capital. Although relations of production in late capitalism are the primary cause of reification, it is maintained that both science & technology have played a contributing role. Lukacs's construction of reification is reviewed, highlighting the influence of Karl Marx, as well as Georg W. F. Hegel's notion of the transformation of epistemology into a historical ontology. The consequences for labor of the current dominance of speculative capital are examined, & the limits of reification, the objective reality of a global economy of capital concentration, & the possibilities of resistance are discussed. J. Lindroth

Michel Foucault's notion of subject is used to make the argument that power determinism & the logic of subjugation confine freedom-seeking actions to resisting domination, although the ethic of liberty allows for a logic of self-determination. Foucault's work on power is seen as a way in which the formation of subjects is understood. Freedom is implicit here, but is contained by power. Because power expands for those who use it, it can grow as a force of resistance & may revert the forces of domination, although this is dependent on soical structure. A focus on self-constitution allows for a change of emphasis from subjugation to liberation. Through self-constitution, the subject becomes independent from forces attempting to contain it, & thus creates a political device of resistance. 50 References. A. Cole

AbstractThis article examines two opposing theoretical paradigms on social, political, economic and ecological questions, namely the neo-Malthusian and the futurological. It argues that these paradigms share an underlying Hobbesian assumption of human nature but differ in their response to this assumption. It argues further that the opposing response to a common assumption holds the key to their respective conceptions of reason. Finally, the article assesses the validity of the paradigms as models for public policy-making and outlines the relative theoretical and practical problems of each.