Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 17:47:03 -0600
Subject: Info Sheet for marxism-and-sciences




From: Majordomo-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
Subject: Majordomo results

--

>>>> info marxism-and-sciences
[Last updated on: Tue Sep 10 16:08:32 1996]

This is the marxism-and-sciences list info sheet. 

1  List Purpose
2  Technical Info 
3  Archives 

1.  Marxism-and-Sciences [M+S] is brought to you by the Spoon
Collective, a group of Net citizens providing volunteer technical
support for philosophical lists which allow new opportunities for
creative discussion.

By subbing to this list, you will also receive ANNOUNCEMENTS deemed
by Spoon to be of general interest to Spoon lists from time to time. 


The new M+S list is intended to foster useful discussion about the
intersection of marxism and the various sciences.  Developments
within the sciences have implications for our understanding of
marxism.  Marxism has influenced the development of some sciences,
such as anthropology and the social sciences.  A marxian approach is
also helpful in understanding developments within natural science,
and we need to understand, learn from and use science in the attempt
to consciously design human ecology, i.e. our relations with the
world around us.  

How far do these inter-relations of marxism and the sciences go, what
form do they take and what can we learn from it?  These are some of
the questions that this list is intended to address.

Science [like marxism] is a human-produced method of generating
knowledge, which does not need to be perfect nor to be held above
examination in order to be useful.  It's own ideals include rigorous
examination of itself, at least in some respects, so it is in the
spirit of both science and marxism that we should conduct a "ruthless
critique" of all things.  

This list is intended to allow the crossing of any boundaries of
mystification about "Science" and "Marxism" alike, and to trample the
line between "intellectuals" and "workers".  Our hope is to create an
atmosphere in which everyone can learn.

"Science" and "Marxism" are not platonic, pre-existing ideas, they
emerge from the complex interaction of many factors which do not fit
neatly into typical definitions of either category.  A marked feature
of this list will be its interdisciplinary approach to such topics as
Marxism's relationship to anthropology, physics, biology, chemistry,
etc.  It will use approaches or ways of thinking from a number of
disciplines, including philosophy, science and the history of
science.   

An important area of discussion will concern marxian
approaches to the development and shape of scientific thought (e.g.,
the "dialectics" of population genetics), as well as the impact of
new developments in science on the development of Marxist thought.   

"M+S" will seek to animate thoughtful, even passionate debate on a
number of important theories and scientists, both explicitly marxist
and those only periphally associated with the Marxian project. 
Indeed, it is our belief that there is much to be learned from those
whose own scientific efforts are indifferent, or even hostile to what
is generally thought of as the "Marxist/ian approach" to scientific
inquiry.  Whether or not an author intended it, we will examine the
compatibility of explicitly marxian thought with other developments
in the science. 

This is NOT an anti-science list.  Critiques are expected to be
substantive and specific.  Debate and discussion will be conducted
within the norms of reasoned discourse and always with an appropriate
respect for divergent theories and opinions.

No academic or activist "credentials" are required.  Being a
"marxist" is not required.  All posts are distributed to the list
without the contents being reviewed or approved by anyone, i.e. there
is no editor.  However, there are moderators who set policy for the
list.  They will consider input from list-members as they feel
appropriate, and make decisions intended to assist the list in
achieving its purpose.


2.  Technical Info and Contact People

To post a message to the list, address it to

marxism-and-sciences-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu

To sub, unsub or otherwise command Majordomo [the software] to do
something for you, you must address your command to:

majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu

The body of the message must contain only the command, [the subject
line is irrelevant.]

Basic commands that you will need:

subscribe marxism-and-sciences

unsubscribe marxism-and-sciences

To get a list of commands, use the command:

help 

If you have questions that are not part of the onlist discussion
itself, address a message to one of the moderators:

Louis Godena    louisgodena-AT-ids.net
Lisa Rogers     lrogers-AT-burgoyne.com

You may also send enquiries to the Spoon Collective account:

spoons-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu


3  Archives

Posts are permanently archived, available through the WWW 
page of the Spoon Collective, which has links to pages and archives
for all the Spoon lists.

http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~spoons 

There are several marxism related papers also available there.




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