DJP

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Viewing 15 posts - 886 through 900 (of 2,087 total)
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  • in reply to: The class struggle and tax credits #114815
    DJP
    Participant

    You already know the answer so why endlessly repeat yourself?

    in reply to: SPGBers- Socialists – Non-Socialists and Anti- Socialists #114295
    DJP
    Participant

    The journals ‘Endnotes’ and ‘Sic’ are also related to Aufheben and Movement t Communiste but there are slight differences. They call it Communisation

    in reply to: The long awaited homeopathy thread #113515
    DJP
    Participant
    ALB wrote:
    Must be a lesson somewhere.

    Think it's this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tTVf519uIk

    in reply to: SPGB/WSM on eBay watch #113242
    DJP
    Participant
    Vin wrote:
    Wasnt Kautsky a member of the German SDP that voted for ww1?Or am i thinking of another bloke?

    Yes that was him

    DJP
    Participant

    Probably a browser compatibility problem. The website is going to be completly revamped in a few months anyhow. In the meantime you could try using a different browser.

    DJP
    Participant

    Hit reload to refresh the page and tell me if you still have the problem. 

    in reply to: Determinism #115024
    DJP
    Participant
    Young Master Smeet wrote:
    The notion of free will is incompatible with thermodynamics, since it implies causeless events […] the only true freedom would be in random meaningless action.

    If 'free will' means the ability to break free from the casual laws of the universe and makes choices regardless of ones past, desires and inclinations then yes there is no such thing. But then the question is, if this where what 'free will' entails would we want such a thing anyhow? What's the freedom in randomly flapping about like a butterfly from one situation to another without any reason for our action?When we consider what people really mean when they talk about "free will" are they really talking about some proposed freedom from the laws of physics? For the most part it turns out that they are referring to nothing more than the capacity to regulate our behaviour and to act freely, without coercion, according to our desires, beliefs and values. I think this is the only meaningful way to go. Defining 'free will' in this second way might not be as magical as the first but it does allow us to about 'free will' and lets us avoid the silliness of thinking that our thoughts play no casual role in world (what is called 'epiphenominalism).Here's a link to a video by Julian Baggini, who wrote a rather excellent book called "Freedom Regained"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJAr1bH2s0

    in reply to: Determinism #115019
    DJP
    Participant

    On determinism and inevitability this might be interesting

    in reply to: The class struggle and tax credits #114805
    DJP
    Participant
    Vin wrote:
    So you don't want the tories out? Well I do!

    Do you want Labout in?

    in reply to: Determinism #115016
    DJP
    Participant

    Determinism : Every event has a cause.Indeterminism : Events just happen at random without a prior cause.Fatalism: What will be will be regardless of what we do.Economic Determinism : It is only economic factors that effect what happenTechnological Determinism : It is only technological factors that effect what happenIt is a common mistake to confuse determinism with fatalism. Economic determinism is not the same thing as determinism. Marx was not really an "economic determinist" (though he is sometimes crudely depicted as being one) since he also held the importance of political struggles (as we do) but he could be refered to as a 'determinist' I think. The quote from Hardy isn't about determinism but about those who thought that Capitalism would automatically collapse because automation would remove human labour from the production process.The quote from me was a moan coupled with a comment about power and ideology.Follow up question: Is free will compatible with determinism?

    in reply to: Socialist information centre – data #114972
    DJP
    Participant

    SP I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea, but we should deliberately look for arguments against socialism as well (and could then debunk them). It would make it a more interesting website anyhow don't you think? But as it stands, personally I have no spare time to put into new projects…

    in reply to: Socialist information centre – data #114968
    DJP
    Participant
    Charles Darwin wrote:
    I had also, during many years, followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than favourable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to answer.

    Collecting only facts that support a certain point of view is what psuedo science does.To be scientific it should also collect facts that (at least seem to) go against the argument.

    DJP
    Participant
    ALB wrote:
    Yehudi Webster argued that the appeal to establish a world without commodities (goods produced for sale), wage-labour and money should be addressed to all humans appealing to their reason, not just to a section of them such as the working class (however defined).

    I think there is some merit to this since some issues such as the degradation of the environment, threat of nuclear war and social alienation are cross-class issues. But that said, seeing as it is the working class that forms the vast majority and it is this class that reproduces capitalist socialist relations, it is still the workers that hold the pivotal position.

    in reply to: Economics, Politics and Climate Change #114996
    DJP
    Participant
    Vin wrote:
    Climate change doesn't seem important when you live in poverty.

    Those who are going to suffer the most from climate change are also those in the most poorest and undeveloped countries. Like the article says it is the least powerful that will suffer.

    in reply to: Peter Watkins: A Revolutionary Film-Maker pt.2 #114993
    DJP
    Participant

    The reason we still have capitalism is that the majority accept capitalist ideology, and one of the ways that this ideology is spread and reinforced is through film and the media. The article is a fine explanation of this..

Viewing 15 posts - 886 through 900 (of 2,087 total)