[Xmca-l] Re: Erratic Marxists

[Morten Nissen]

Dear xmca

It is few who realize how central are the Greek and Spanish oppositions to European austerity politics for any hope for a change that might halt the glide toward increasing inequality and nationalist reactions. So, Varoufakis is my hero - even if some of his statements may be debatable. To me, he is one of those laudable economists who are able to look beyond economic formulae, like Piketty.

He is brave in taking up Marx, no small thing for an economist. And he is right in his critique of Marx, too, if we read his text looking for truth rather than correctness. Marx did in fact sometimes substitute polemics for dialectics, and scold opponents for being wrong rather than engage in immanent critique. And behind this it does make sense to point to Marx' neglecting to address subjectivity in the epistemological sense, as the issue of we who think and act (instead taken up by Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, and later the poststructuralists). This is what has weakened the left most: Rather than trying to reflect and understand how we constitute ourselves as "us" (the revolutionary Party, the State, the Theory, etc.), we have split up and pointed fingers at each other for being wrong.  

Varoufakis' arguments for a liberal pluralism (and "erratic readings") combined with a collective social responsibility for not just a radical change, but also for how it may come about, are important truths, even if we can find a few unimportant incorrectnesses.

Morten Nissen
PhD, Dr. Psych.
Professor
Department of Education 
Aarhus University 
Tuborgvej 164
2400 Copenhagen NV

Tlf: +45 30282418
www.edu.au.dk/


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] På vegne af Larry Purss
Sendt: 22. februar 2015 07:04
Til: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Emne: [Xmca-l] Re: Erratic Marxists

Mike,
I also was struck by Varoufakis argument that everything is "pregnant" with its opposite and creating "joint productions" [such as labour's two quite different natures:{ 1] labour as a value creating activity that can never be "quantified" in advance AND 2] labour as a "quantity" }.

Another "error" [as he sees it] was for the left to embrace "equality and justice" as rallying cries, thereby allowing the neo-liberals to "occupy"
the "space" of  "liberty, freedom,and rationality" which becomes the neo-liberal rallying cry.

Does present a theme [a sense] inviting further reflection.
Larry



On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 8:09 PM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:

> Greg!
>
> Is this a different rendition of the ends justifies the means? or the 
> meets? or the meats?
>
> :)
>
> Annalisa
>