File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_2002/bhaskar.0201, message 27


From: "Phil Walden" <phil-AT-pwalden.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: BHA: to John and Dick
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 12:42:23 -0000


Hi John, Dick, listers,

Good to hear from you J and D.

John, you ask whether I am failing to ground my concept of alienation in
terms of specifying how alienated ideology relates to different modes of
production.  (I use the Marxist terminology here, because that is how I
think about history).  I am open to argument on this.  Possibly I am too
influenced by Adorno, who seems to think humanity is incurably alienated
from nature (but then again it still seems convincing to me).  But where I
would definitely line up with Adorno (and I think Hegel) is in holding that
their was no original "state of grace" or what some Marxists call "primitive
communism".  For me, it seems the lives of early humans (homonids) must have
been a desperate struggle against the (mainly) hostile forces of nature.  So
no "fall from grace".  It seems to me we are still in a (slightly less)
desperate struggle to lessen our alienation from nature and from ourselves.
I read Hegel as arguing that humanity, by prioritizing reason over emotion,
will, instinct, faith, etc, can progressively overcome alienation.  Hope
this helps a bit.

Dick, I want to say that I respect your Christian beliefs even though I
don't agree with them.  What I mean by that is that I am truly interested in
why Christians (and other faiths) hold their religious beliefs.  I am also
interested in the distinction that James Daly, Mervyn (and perhaps others)
are making between what they call the "bourgeois Enlightenment" and the
"spiritual Enlightenment".  I am conscious of my own relative ignorance of
certain thinkers who might be invoked in support of this distinction (e.g.
Aquinas).

Best regards to you both,

Phil



     --- from list bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005