The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core principles of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property and a classless society.
Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least nominally in Marxism, a theory and method conceived by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels during the 19th century.
Now, let's read a typical text from some political pamphlet, written by The New Zealand Worker's Party in 1995:
-QUOTE- The materialist conception of history (historical materialism, for short) was discovered a little before the middle of the nineteenth century
by the great German thinker and practical revolutionary Karl Marx. It was the first - and remains the only - scientific view of history. -END QUOTE-
Here it already goes wrong. We took our starting point for this project in ontological materialism, which term we replaced by physicalism.
To remind you: In philosophy, physicalism is the metaphysical thesis that "everything is physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the physical, or that everything supervenes on the physical.
And here is claimed that Marx developed the first and only scientific view of history by "discovering" historical materialism.
Initially, it was a hypothesis used to interpret history.
And indeed if you remove the Will of God and providence and that all men are born as sinners, and the power of religion over the sinners, this leads to a material world,
but not to science as understood in physicalism. It leads to interpretations of social organization and based on these interpretations, to choices, or call it conclusions, what is and is not desirable in society and in social organization.
As we have seen in the development of historical materialism and its increasing entanglement in actual political theory, it leads to plain politics and the question of who has the power to change social organization?
This then leads to the following quote, also from the same pamphlet as I mentioned earlier:
-QUOTE- Although this discovery was a milestone in the development of human thought, historical materialism is not taught in our schools.
People who go through them come out with the idea that history is just a jumble of chance events involving ‘great men’ such as kings or generals.
The reason for this is not hard to find. It is because our education system has been developed to serve the interests of the ruling, capitalist class.
What concerns these people more than anything else is, maintaining capitalism. They certainly would not allow textbooks which show, as historical science does, that capitalism is not eternal
and is due soon to be replaced by socialism; that it is the masses of the people who make history, and not ‘great men’; and that mankind’s social development is not
the result of ‘God’s will’ but is a material process governed by impersonal, inner laws, knowledge of which can be ascertained by man
and as a consequence, put to use by him in the same way, say, as the laws of biology. (The words ‘mankind’ and ‘man’ are used throughout to include both men and women). -END QUOTE-
Here we see the same mistake: stealing the concept of LAW from physics and comparing them to the laws of biology. Of course, you can classify historical materialist interpretations of history as knowledge,
but it is not equivalent to the irrefutable knowledge of basic physics, based on laws of nature. Eventually, Marx's ideas are based on a materialist approach, converted into political ideas,
which means who has the power to change social organization, driven by which ideas. In that respect, Marx showed us valuable observations regarding the structure of society in his days.
They still apply, if you look at how common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property are distributed among all people on this earth.
History has stimulated a society far from classless, maybe to the disappointment of Marx. Whether the human brain ever will be capable of accepting
that a general distribution of wealth is better for the survival of mankind than individually grabbing as much wealth as possible, evolution might tell.
Anyway, this concludes this project on Materialism, the philosophy most people don't like.
Thank you for your attention again.....
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
The Discussion
[13:13] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:14] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)
[13:14] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): we shall see ....
[13:14] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:14] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:14] herman Bergson: If there sstilll evolution at work on the human brain :-)
[13:15] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): there is always evolution...even backwards
[13:15] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): It would be difficult to find a leader who was not after more power to lead such a pure movement dont you think??
[13:15] herman Bergson: Oh...nice idea Beertje...soon we might live in the trees again perhaps :-)
[13:16] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): :))
[13:16] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:16] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:16] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): might work
[13:16] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hahaha
[13:16] herman Bergson: Power is the key issue here indeed
[13:16] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:16] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): few people can handle power
[13:17] herman Bergson: That is why democracy tries to spread the power
[13:17] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): seems so, grabbing high voltage lines are for example not especially good
[13:17] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): lol
[13:17] herman Bergson: multiple political parties....coalitions
[13:17] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): and if one could would there be enoough followers
[13:18] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): I sorry..
[13:18] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): I feel I'm Sorry! for Israel with Netenyahu as leader
[13:18] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): He is way toooooo rigid
[13:18] herman Bergson: The whole debate also in relation to socialism or communism or capitalism is, what is the best way to organize society....
[13:18] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:18] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): and willing to give in to protect his own power
[13:18] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed
[13:19] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): is making a mess of this war!!!
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i just wish that meaningless and tragic war could stop
[13:19] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yep
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): or war, its a massacre on civivians
[13:19] herman Bergson: A number of leaders prefer to go for organizing their own personal interests first
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :(
[13:19] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): that has always been true
[13:19] herman Bergson: All dictators do so
[13:19] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yes
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): also saw Putin stated "we wil not stop until we have won and conquered Ukraine!"
[13:20] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yes
[13:20] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sigh
[13:20] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): just now
[13:20] herman Bergson: Putin owns billions of dollars and palaces....
[13:20] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): and Washington is not helping
[13:20] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): lots outside of w
[13:20] herman Bergson: So, eventually we end up with the question....
[13:20] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): Russia too
[13:21] herman Bergson: WHAT ARE TRUE ETHICAL VALUES to use and base on society
[13:21] herman Bergson: Greedy dictators or ego maniacs tend to ignore this question
[13:22] herman Bergson: Society is about working together and sharing
[13:22] herman Bergson: Both a problem for a number of people
[13:22] bergfrau Apfelbaum: i always get sentimental towards the end of the year.... do not know why ? it is also just one day ... ---> Thank you for another wonderful year in a classroom, Herman, and thank you very much for your great lectures
[13:22] bergfrau Apfelbaum: ~Applause~
[13:22] bergfrau Apfelbaum: yay
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)
[13:23] herman Bergson: This is probably why Protestants are so convinced that man is primarily a sinful creator
[13:23] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): will be interesting wht the next subject is
[13:23] herman Bergson: Bergie!
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sinful creator hmm
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ditto on Bergie
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): (proceeds with drawing nudie characters in Blender and UE5)
[13:24] herman Bergson: A lot of good things happen in this world...
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): lol
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): creature i think he meant
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): id not call that a sin though
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:25] herman Bergson: oops...yes ..creature....or creator of sins :-)
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): actually however not gotten far into character modelling yet, need to work in that part and also on animation
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:26] herman Bergson: No Bejiita...you have to work on character.....your creations should have good moral character :-)
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): THAT is true
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and well Im a nice guy so
[13:27] herman Bergson: Well, coming weeks we gonna say again Peace on Earth for everyone......
[13:27] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): Will your family be with you ?
[13:27] herman Bergson: We are repeating this already for 2000 years....
[13:28] herman Bergson: Well...on December 27 we'll get together and I gonna play Xmas carols on the cello :-)
[13:28] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): It will be a difficult time but i am glad you are doing that
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): thats great
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:28] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): hope we get to hear it too
[13:28] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): again
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)
[13:29] herman Bergson: Oh...indeed I once recorded it for Youtube :-)
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yes
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): twice i think
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): one year alone
[13:29] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes:))
[13:29] herman Bergson: Even plays together with my teacher :-)
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): and another with you teacher
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa u did
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yep
[13:30] herman Bergson: hmmm.... maybe I should do it again, so you may learn if I have made any progress :-))
[13:30] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:30] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:30] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): i am sure you have !!!!
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:30] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): another year practice
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa
[13:31] herman Bergson: On Wednesday 20 december my teacher brings all hetr pupils together to play Xmas songs....
[13:31] herman Bergson: I always declined participating....
[13:31] herman Bergson: This year I'll be there too :-)
[13:31] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): oh nice!!!!!!!
[13:31] herman Bergson: My 4th Xmas then
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): nice!
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:32] bergfrau Apfelbaum: When you perform, imagine that all of your SL students are sitting in the front row
[13:32] bergfrau Apfelbaum: grins
[13:32] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ah
[13:32] herman Bergson: It was a wonderful year again being together with you......
[13:32] herman Bergson: thank you so much for this
[13:32] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): fingers crossed that 2024 will be better for all
[13:33] bergfrau Apfelbaum: yay
[13:33] bergfrau Apfelbaum: ~Applause~
[13:33] bergfrau Apfelbaum: thank YOU
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): we loved to be here
[13:33] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ♥ Thank Youuuuuuuuuu!! ♥
[13:33] bergfrau Apfelbaum: *+*+*Bussi bussi bussi *+*+*
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako) ♪♥♪APPLAUDS!!!♪♥♪
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)
[13:33] herman Bergson: Class dismissed.......
[13:33] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ok!!!
[13:33] herman Bergson: See you on the golfcourse or in January again
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes:)
[13:33] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): hope i can at least make golf next week
