Feuerbach, God, and the best thing about Capitalism

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Brendan Cooney Video Law of Value Introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGT-hygPqUM
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Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• feuerbach
• marxism
• austerity
• capitalism
• feudalism
• ideology
• philosophy

[felooosailing957]

Man your videos are really cool! You really make contemporary Marxism intelligible to the layman o on :)

[douglain]

@felooosailing957 Thanks! I haven't made one of these in awhile, but I hope to make a few more someday soon.

[douglain]

HebaruSan: I probably mispronounced his name.

As to comparing Capitalism to Feudalism, the comparison was made in order to illustrate what was good about Capitalism, and not in order to describe it as an economic system. On the God business, despite what right-wingers say, God no longer serves as the foundation of our economic relations. The difference between oppression and exploitation is pertinent here. This is an economy based on exploitation and not oppression.

[BoStevoD]

I like the vid, but I'd suggest a Maoist addendum: Mao’s ideas on contradiction and break out of dogmatism allows him to look at the contradiction of base (economy) and superstructure (politics) in a way different from many orthodox Marxists. Rather than merely saying that the base influences the superstructure as a one way street, Mao says the superstructure can influence the base. Mao is asserting that politics needs to be placed in command, that there is a place for the subjective factor.

[HebaruSan]

I've always heard people pronounce it "FOY-er-bock."

Is feudalism a historical necessity? And if not, is a comparison to it the best we can do in terms of analyzing capitalism? Or should we try to identify features of capitalism itself?

Two minor complaints on the god business: Right wing culture warriors DO refer to God to justify oppression (c.f. "pro-life", "abstinence only"), and our best qualities are often projected onto patriotism and militarism instead of money and value.