>I'm really not sure how the professor gets off saying that justice and
>equity are "spiritual" questions. Certainly one doesn't need to invoke any
>spirits to talk about them! And besides, I was under the impression that
>politics was the philosophy of how we should live together -- and that
>certainly includes some concept of justice! Perhaps they think that you
>need some kind of spirits to justify treating people with equity. I can't
>see why, though. Reciprocity (or EMPATHY) works for me.
>
>Maybe I should read some Marx.
Good idea. If you want to uderstand someone's answers, its important to
first know what problem it is they were trying to solve.
Many of Marx writing have to do with the existental relationship modern man
has with the products of his labor and his political theories he later
derives from this. He believed a large amount of existental angst came from
people becoming alienated from thier own craftsmanship and the work they
did. This fairly recent development was a byproduct of the more
interchangable and anonymous role workers played in modern methods of
manufacturing.
A 14th century barrel maker could look throughout the village and say, "I
made that barrel the the blacksmith uses to hold the water, to temper the
steel, to shoe the horse. And that one there, in which the shopkeeper
stores his wares, you will see, bares my mark as well. And even this wine,
with which I toast, owes its flavor to the sturdy oak I chose and which
these hands so delicately shaped into its cask. Truly, he village is richer
for my work!"
Whereas, a 19th century worker in a barrel-making factory could at best say,
"Purhaps that rivet in that barrel over there is one of the thousand I
pounded last week. But who can tell my work from anyone else's? How
important I'm I to anything here? If I were gone, would anyone notice?"
Marx saw this problem as the primary cause of the dissatisfaction so many
had felt and expressed. And he proposed to heal this modern rift between
man and his work by giving control of the product back to those who produce
it. And, hence, communism was born.
-Prof. Tim
BTW: It's this same spritualism (as in, understanding and adapting to the
"human spirit") that underlies the current management-style-de-jour of
"Quality circles", worker "ownership", and the growth of profit-sharing
plans. Similar to those touted publicly by companies like Saturn.