This month has been more peaceful than last month, thank goodness, and I have read a lot of good novels, which has helped. Well, it couldn’t really have been much worse, but there you go. Below are some of my latest happenings.
1. ‘DIGITISATION PERSPECTIVES’ EDITED BY RUTH RIKOWSKI, PUBLISHED, WITH SENSE PUBLISHERS: ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, 2010, £35.00 (pbk) ISBN – 10 9460912974; 13 9789460912979 – NOW OUT!
I am delighted to say that my book on digitisation is now finally out. I received a special delivery, with a boxful of books (including copies for the contributors) on the evening of 29th November 2010. Wow! It was really exciting. I love the cover – designed by our son Victor Verne Rikowski, with a mauve background. Hope you do too (cover at the top of this newsletter). Covers are so important, I think.
The information about the book is up on amazon and the Sense Publishing website. More information will shortly be up on the Sense website, including a free preview of the first two chapters of the book. Sense will also be doing an extensive marketing campaign.
Next thing for me to do is to start to organize a book launch, which will be sometime into the New Year! So, watch this space for that one, as they say.
Next thing for me to do is to start to organize a book launch, which will be sometime into the New Year! So, watch this space for that one, as they say.
2. OUR ‘FLOW OF IDEAS’ WEBSITE NOW LIVE ON THE BRITISH LIBRARY ARCHIVE WEBSITE – see
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/target/49741937/source/search
I am very pleased to say that our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website is now live on the British Library archive website, which hopefully will ensure that our website will be preserved for many, many years to come. We thought we would have to rely on our sons to preserve and maintain our website, after our demise. So, it is wonderful now to know that the British Library is also taking it ‘under its wing’, as it were. Once again, we must be grateful to the library and information profession for making all this possible.
My blog, ‘Ruth Rikowski Updates’ is also going to be archived by the British Library. This process will begin in mid December, and I will let you all know once that is live.
3. PIECE ABOUT KURT RICHARDS, (NĒE RIKOWSKI), GLENN’S DAD, NOW ON OUR WEBSITE
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=377&slink=yes
The eulogy that Glenn Rikowski wrote for his father, Kurt Richard’s (née Rikowski), funeral, which he read out at the funeral service himself, at St Mary Magdalene Church, Stilton on 25th February 2009, can now be found on our website. It was all very moving and of course, very important for Glenn.
However, as readers of my newsletters know, this has also all been a painful and complex experience for us. Anyway, we both felt that it was time to move on in a particular way, and this meant, inserting this piece on our website.
This is very much a family website; we must and need to try to help and support each other in every way that we can. This eulogy was an important piece of writing for Glenn. Glenn’s dad was very hard-working and determined, and this filtered through and influenced both Glenn and our eldest son Alexander, who both are both hard working, determined and very goal-oriented. So, anyway, we now wanted to make this public; we want and need to move on, and so here it is!
4. ‘DESPERATE TIMES AT MESA COLLEGE’ by JOHN J. CROCITTI
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=378&slink=yes
A new piece has been inserted on the ‘Contributions’ section of our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website - ‘Desperate Times at Mesa College’ by John J. Crocitti. John considers the difficulties of trying to undertake worthwhile teaching at community college at places like Mesa College, USA. He focuses on topics such as the problems of burn out, the associated difficulties of encouraging critical thinking, and the difficulties of successfully nurturing advanced and able students.
5. 10 NEW ITEMS UP ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG
http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
There are 10 new items up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog: 8 book reviews of novels, a blog entry about music and one event.
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=378&slink=yes
A new piece has been inserted on the ‘Contributions’ section of our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website - ‘Desperate Times at Mesa College’ by John J. Crocitti. John considers the difficulties of trying to undertake worthwhile teaching at community college at places like Mesa College, USA. He focuses on topics such as the problems of burn out, the associated difficulties of encouraging critical thinking, and the difficulties of successfully nurturing advanced and able students.
5. 10 NEW ITEMS UP ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG
http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
There are 10 new items up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog: 8 book reviews of novels, a blog entry about music and one event.
The 8 book reviews are: ‘The Big Picture’ by Douglas Kennedy; ‘The Hand of Ethelberta’ by Thomas Hardy; ‘Alexa’ by Andrea Newman; ‘The Magic Cottage’ by James Herbert; ‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen; ‘Push’ by Sapphire, ‘Little White Lies’ by Emma Blair and ‘Forget-Me-Not’ by Emma Blair.
The event is the Firework Display on Wanstead Flats on 5th November 2010, including lots of pictures of the firework displays, which were all really very spectacular.
6. ‘CRITICAL EDUCATION AGAINST GLOBAL CAPITALISM: Karl Marx and revolutionary critical education’ by PAULA ALLMAN, SENSE PUBLISHERS: Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2010, pbk edition, £35.00 – NOW OUT
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Education-Against-Global-Capitalism/dp/946091263X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289721025&sr=8-1
The paperback edition of Paula Allman’s very important book, ‘Critical Education Against Global Capitalism’ has finally now been published – but with Sense Publishers, rather than with the original publishers, Bergin and Garvey. When the hardback edition first appeared, back in 2001, Bergin and Garvey said that they would bring out a paperback edition, but this never saw the light of day. In her new Introduction in the book Paula talks about this, offering some possible explanations, as well as some new theoretical analyses. Anyhow, it is very good that Sense decided that they wanted to take the project on, and to publish this paperback edition.
We wish Paula every success with her book and hope that the paperback edition will mean that many more people will be able to read and benefit from the book and from Paula’s important work in general. Also, that, in time, it will lead to some important and worthwhile changes in society. We must, at least, live in hope!
7. GLENN RIKOWSKI: SOCIAL NETWORKING, BLOGS AND BLOG ARTICLES
Glenn has been very enthusiastic about blogs and social networking for some years now. He was very much in the forefront of much of it all, in fact. Littlejohn and Pegler commented on this in their book Preparing for blended e-learning, published by Routledge: Oxon, 2007. They referred to Glenn’s MySpace profile and his publicity of Marxism and Education in it, and acknowledged the fact that Glenn was very much at the forefront as an academic moving into this field. Now, of course, many academics use social networking tools, including Facebook, although I must admit, that I do wonder sometimes what the students think to all of this. Our friend, Patrick Ainley is certainly a keen enthusiast of Facebook these days, and uses it on a very regular basis. The film about Facebook, ‘The Social Network’ and the Harvard undergraduate that designed it, Mark Zuckerberg, is something that we will hopefully get to see. It is also interesting to note that Facebook was designed by a man, but is used and enjoyed so much by women. I consider some of the potential problems of social networking for females in an article of mine entitled ‘Females and Social Networking’ that was published in Managing Information, Vol, 16, No. 3, 2009.
Anyway, in regard to Glenn, a couple or so years ago the ELearning Officer at the University of Northampton found out about the Littlejohn and Pegler book and Glenn’s contribution in it, and wanted to consider how the university could benefit from it all. At that time, Glenn was writing blogs for his students (insightful short articles, largely around education policy issues) and this person wanted Glenn to engage with not only writing but with evaluating these blogs of his. Glenn agreed and was quite enthusiastic about it all. However, the whole project became very time-consuming.
At the time, Glenn was writing these blog articles for students, as well as giving these students PowerPoint presentations and handouts. He is currently writing his last piece on this now for students for the EDU3004 module Education, Culture and Society. The piece is entitled Schools in England and Bonus Culture.
Here is some further information about these e-articles – all written for the EDU3004 Education, Culture and Society module, for lecture and seminar topics.
Glenn Rikowski wrote these articles over a 4-year period, and the articles were 1300-1400 words long (although a few were longer). Altogether he wrote over 50,000 words. The results were evaluated via a questionnaire for the 2007-2008 EDU3004 students – and they were very positive. These articles were for informing seminar discussions, as well as hopefully being useful for assignments.
Most of the articles were written to the Volumizer, Glenn Rikowski’s AOL blog, which was started up on 29th September 2005. On 30th September 2008, AOL announced that all of its Hometown products, including its blogs and newsletters, would be closed down on 31st October 2008! However, Glenn ‘rescued’ the articles from the Volumizer and put them on our The Flow of Ideas web site. This involved him writing html code into the articles to make them readable, which proved to be quite time-consuming. This work was finished just before Christmas 2008.
The articles currently available online, via our website are (by Lecture Topic):
LECTURE 1: The Concept of Culture and Fear of a Blank Planet:
Rikowski, G. (2006) Moneythought in Higher Education, 15th October, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Moneythought%20in%20Higher%20Education
Rikowski, G. (2007) Fear of a Blank Planet Revisited, 12th November, at ‘Wavering on Ether’: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14758904&blogID=327677941&Mytoken=44CF619A-7D98-4C30-AB4BD3DEC05464CF51361335
Rikowski, G. (2008) Education As Culture Machine, 25th September, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Education%20As%20Culture%20Machine
Glenn has been very enthusiastic about blogs and social networking for some years now. He was very much in the forefront of much of it all, in fact. Littlejohn and Pegler commented on this in their book Preparing for blended e-learning, published by Routledge: Oxon, 2007. They referred to Glenn’s MySpace profile and his publicity of Marxism and Education in it, and acknowledged the fact that Glenn was very much at the forefront as an academic moving into this field. Now, of course, many academics use social networking tools, including Facebook, although I must admit, that I do wonder sometimes what the students think to all of this. Our friend, Patrick Ainley is certainly a keen enthusiast of Facebook these days, and uses it on a very regular basis. The film about Facebook, ‘The Social Network’ and the Harvard undergraduate that designed it, Mark Zuckerberg, is something that we will hopefully get to see. It is also interesting to note that Facebook was designed by a man, but is used and enjoyed so much by women. I consider some of the potential problems of social networking for females in an article of mine entitled ‘Females and Social Networking’ that was published in Managing Information, Vol, 16, No. 3, 2009.
Anyway, in regard to Glenn, a couple or so years ago the ELearning Officer at the University of Northampton found out about the Littlejohn and Pegler book and Glenn’s contribution in it, and wanted to consider how the university could benefit from it all. At that time, Glenn was writing blogs for his students (insightful short articles, largely around education policy issues) and this person wanted Glenn to engage with not only writing but with evaluating these blogs of his. Glenn agreed and was quite enthusiastic about it all. However, the whole project became very time-consuming.
At the time, Glenn was writing these blog articles for students, as well as giving these students PowerPoint presentations and handouts. He is currently writing his last piece on this now for students for the EDU3004 module Education, Culture and Society. The piece is entitled Schools in England and Bonus Culture.
Here is some further information about these e-articles – all written for the EDU3004 Education, Culture and Society module, for lecture and seminar topics.
Glenn Rikowski wrote these articles over a 4-year period, and the articles were 1300-1400 words long (although a few were longer). Altogether he wrote over 50,000 words. The results were evaluated via a questionnaire for the 2007-2008 EDU3004 students – and they were very positive. These articles were for informing seminar discussions, as well as hopefully being useful for assignments.
Most of the articles were written to the Volumizer, Glenn Rikowski’s AOL blog, which was started up on 29th September 2005. On 30th September 2008, AOL announced that all of its Hometown products, including its blogs and newsletters, would be closed down on 31st October 2008! However, Glenn ‘rescued’ the articles from the Volumizer and put them on our The Flow of Ideas web site. This involved him writing html code into the articles to make them readable, which proved to be quite time-consuming. This work was finished just before Christmas 2008.
The articles currently available online, via our website are (by Lecture Topic):
LECTURE 1: The Concept of Culture and Fear of a Blank Planet:
Rikowski, G. (2006) Moneythought in Higher Education, 15th October, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Moneythought%20in%20Higher%20Education
Rikowski, G. (2007) Fear of a Blank Planet Revisited, 12th November, at ‘Wavering on Ether’: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14758904&blogID=327677941&Mytoken=44CF619A-7D98-4C30-AB4BD3DEC05464CF51361335
Rikowski, G. (2008) Education As Culture Machine, 25th September, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Education%20As%20Culture%20Machine
LECTURE 2: Cultures of Student & Pupil Opposition – The Lads
Rikowski, G. (2006) Stroppy Individuals or Oppositional Cultures in Schools Today? 7th October, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Stroppy%20Individuals%20and%20Oppositional%20Cultures%20in%20Schools
LECTURE 3: Cultures of Student-Pupil Conformity: The ‘Boffins’
Rikowski, G. (2006) Conforming Schools, Conforming Kids? 15th October, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Conforming%20Schools%20Conforming%20Kids
LECTURE 4: The Culture of Teacher Professionalism
Rikowski, G. (2006) Caught in the Storm of Capital: Teacher Professionalism, Managerialism and Neoliberalism in Schools, a paper prepared for Education, Culture & Society (EDU3004) Students, School of Education, University of Northampton, 30th October: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Caught%20in%20the%20Storm%20of%20Capital
LECTURE 5: Playground Cultures
Rikowski, G. (2006) Playground Risks and Handcuffed Kids: We Need Safer Schools? 10th November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Playgound%20Risks%20and%20Handcuffed%20Kids
Rikowski, G. (2007) Learning to the Max, with Play off the Tracks, 27th October, London, online at:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Learning%20to%20the%20Max
LECTURE 6: The Culture of Bullying in Schools
Rikowski, G. (2007) When Bullies Roam the School, 3rd November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=When%20Bullies%20Roam%20the%20School
LECTURE 6: The Culture of Bullying in Schools
Rikowski, G. (2007) When Bullies Roam the School, 3rd November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=When%20Bullies%20Roam%20the%20School
LECTURE 7: Schools and Bonus Culture
Article ‘Schools in England and Bonus Culture’ – to be written.
LECTURE 8: Changing Cultures in Educational Contexts
Rikowski, G. (2006) The Business Takeover of Further Education and the Further Education White Paper, 28th March, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Business%20Takeover%20of%20Further%20Education
Rikowski, G. (2006) The Last Parents’ Evening, 18th November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=The%20Last%20Parents%20Evening
Rikowski, G. (2007) A Capital-friendly Culture for Further Education in the UK, 17th November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=A%20Capital%20Friendly%20Culture%20for%20Further%20Education
Article ‘Schools in England and Bonus Culture’ – to be written.
LECTURE 8: Changing Cultures in Educational Contexts
Rikowski, G. (2006) The Business Takeover of Further Education and the Further Education White Paper, 28th March, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Business%20Takeover%20of%20Further%20Education
Rikowski, G. (2006) The Last Parents’ Evening, 18th November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=The%20Last%20Parents%20Evening
Rikowski, G. (2007) A Capital-friendly Culture for Further Education in the UK, 17th November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=A%20Capital%20Friendly%20Culture%20for%20Further%20Education
LECTURE 9: Managerial and Market Cultures in School Life
Rikowski, G. (2007) Marketisation of the Schools System in England, 25th November, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Marketisation%20of%20the%20Schools%20System%20in%20England
LECTURE 10: Multiculturalism in Education
Rikowski, G. (2007) Multiculturalism and Faith Schools, 2nd December, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Multiculturalism%20and%20Faith%20Schools
LECTURE 11: Cultural Capital
Rikowski, G. (2007) Forms of Capital: Critique of Bourdieu on Capital, 18th December, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Bourdieu%20on%20Capital
Rikowski, G. (2008) Forms of Capital: Critique of Bourdieu on Cultural Capital, 6th January, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Bourdieu%20on%20Cultural%20Capital
LECTURE 12: The Learning Society and Lifelong Learning
Rikowski, G. (2008) No Learner Left Unhassled, 12th January, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=No%20Learner%20Left%20Unhassled
LECTURE 13: The McDonaldization Thesis
Rikowski, G. (2008) Are We Loving It? McDonaldization and Education, 23rd January, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=McDonaldization%20and%20Education
LECTURE 14: Post-Fordism and Education
Rikowski, G. (2008) Post-Fordism and Schools in England, 26th April, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Post-Fordism%20and%20Schools
LECTURE 15: Postmodernity, Postmodernism and Education
Rikowski, G. (2008) Postmodern Dereliction in the Face of Neoliberal Education Policy, 27th April, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Postmodern%20Dereliction%20in%20the%20Face%20of%20Neoliberal%20Education%20Policy
LECTURE 16: The Knowledge Economy and Education
Rikowski, G. (2007) Learning Investments: New Private Schools and New Labour Dilemmas in Educational Services Exports, 14th June, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Learning%20Investments
Rikowski, G (2008) Education Incorporated: New Labour, the Knowledge Economy and Education, London, 3rd February, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Education Incorporated
LECTURE 17: Nihilism and the Devaluation of Educational Values
Rikowski, G. (2008) Nihilism and the De-valuation of Educational Values in England, 10th February, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Nihilism%20and%20Educational%20Values
LECTURE 18: Education in the Risk Society
Rikowski, G. (2008) Snowballs and Risk in Schools, 16th February, London, online: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Snowballs%20and%20Risk%20in%20Schools
LECTURE 19: Communitarianism and Education
Rikowski, G. (2008) The Binding Ring: Communitarianism for Schools on a Foundation of ‘British Values’? A paper prepared for the EDU3004 module, ‘Education, Culture & Society’, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Communitarianism%20for%20Schools
LECTURE 20: Globalisation and Education
Rikowski, G. (2008) Globalisation and Education Revisited, 2nd March, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Globalisation%20and%20Education%20Revisited
LECTURE 21: Neoliberalism and Human Capital Theory
Rikowski, G. (2007) Education Repetition: Brown Follows Blair’s Neoliberal Education Reform Agenda, 8th June, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Education%20Repetition
Rikowski, G. (2007) Academy Chains: Building on the Neoliberal Education Policy of Tony Blair, 3rd June, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Academy%20Chains
Rikowski, G. (2007) My Tony Blair, and His Neoliberal Education Policies, 12th May, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=My%20Tony%20Blair
LECTURE 22: The New Marxist Educational Theory
Rikowski, G. (2008) Marx and Education Revisited, 21st April, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Marx%20and%20Education%20Revisited
Rikowski, G. (2008) Marxism and Education Revisited, 25th April, London, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Marxism%20and%20Education%20Revisited
In time, we hope and intend to turn all this valuable material into a book.
Glenn now has 3 other blogs:
Rikowski Point (a Blogspot blog) – with 1,510 visits (since June 2010, when the statistics begin, plus 700 Profile views since December 2008 when it was set up) at: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com/
Wavering on Ether (MySpace) – with 40,563 visits, and 24,386 Profile views, since 2005, at: http://blog.myspace.com/glennrikowski and
All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski (a Wordpress blog) – with 87,461 visits since September 2008, at: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/
What is on these blogs is mainly advertising (books, events, conferences and political meetings). For example, Glenn recently inserted a piece about some work of his friend Mike Neary, as ‘Student as Producer’ - see
http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog/539928709
However, from 2005-2007 Wavering on Ether includes a number of short articles. Mostly, these were ‘reproductions’ of articles on the old AOL Volumizer blog. There is, however, one significant article which is only on this MySpace blog, which includes music references (on Porcupine Tree in particular):
Rikowski, G. (2007) Fear of a Blank Planet Revisited, 12th November, at ‘Wavering on Ether’: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14758904&blogID=327677941&Mytoken=44CF619A-7D98-4C30-AB4BD3DEC05464CF51361335
Glenn has plans to write further articles on his blogs in 2011.
8. ALEXANDER RIKOWSKI’S KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON, MARXIST PHILOSOPHY and PHILOSOPHY OF MIND ESSAYS (2009-10) ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON OUR ‘FLOW OF IDEAS’ WEBSITE
I am very pleased to say that the essays that Alexander Rikowski wrote on ‘Marxist Philosophy’ and ‘Philosophy of Mind’ for his Philosophy degree at King’s College London (for the Pre-Submissions in his 3rd year) are now available on our website.
Here are the Marx essays (he got his best mark in this module incidentally – 69%):
‘What is alienated labour, and what would unalienated labour be like?’
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Alienated%20Labour
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Alienated%20Labour
‘Does historical materialism need to appeal to functional explanation? If not, how can historical materialism otherwise be made consistent? If so, is this a strength or a weakness?’
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Historical%20Materialism%20and%20Functional%20Explanation
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Historical%20Materialism%20and%20Functional%20Explanation
‘Marx did not think that capitalism is unjust, and in fact, said that it is just.’ Discuss.
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Marx%20and%20Justice
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Marx%20and%20Justice
Alex explains alienation very well and clearly in his alienated labour essay, I think. He explains that in Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts Marx says that there are four aspects of alienated labour under capitalism. These are: alienation from the product of labour; humankind’s alienation from her/his product (the product that she/he produces); humankind’s alienation from his/her species-being and alienation from others. Alexander examines these 4 modes in his essay.
In regard to alienation from the product of labour, as he says: “Under capitalism the workers produce products, but Marx argues that they are alienated from the products they produce.” (p.1) Whilst, in regard to being alienated from our species-being:
“Man’s species-being is alienated from both his body and the outside world...Marx is saying that we human beings co-operate with one another in order to achieve things – we are essentially social beings. But the problem is that, under capitalism, instead of seeing ourselves as part of a large co-operation of humans, we think in a selfish linear way in order to survive in the system we are in.” (p.4)
And in his concluding paragraph in the essay he says that:
“Marx himself believed that in coming to terms with unalienated labour, the workers would unite in breaking free from their alienated states.” (p.6)
Yes, indeed! And it is this clarity of thinking that we need if we are to effectively analyse capitalism, uncover its integral flaws, and then seek to break free, move beyond it, and overcome it all.
In his justice essay, Alexander says that the capitalist mode of production has its own inbuilt system of justice; this in effect, is what ensures that capitalism is able to function successfully. Therefore, it is, in fact, by necessity (in its own terms) a just system. And to the extent that capitalism does offer some form of a civilised society and some quality of life (over barbarism, for example), then we need to accept this form of justice within capitalism, in some way (‘you can’t have your cake and eat it’ type scenario). However, whether we actually see it as being just depends on what class one comes from to quite a large extent, Alex says.
“Members of the ruling class perceive capitalism as being just, whilst working class persons see it as unjust because they are being exploited by the ruling class...” (p. 2-3)
Furthermore, he says that:
“For Marx, justice and morals are concepts related to the laws of the state, and what is just is that what ensures that the current mode of production carries on working effectively (Wood, 1972, p.11)...under the capitalist mode of production, it is a fact that capitalism is just.” (p.2)
But what we need to do is to get beyond this mode of production and beyond a justice system altogether, and live at some higher, more fulfilled level, in a system beyond capitalism, and beyond simplistic notions of justice, morality and ethics. Then to move towards a system where love, fulfilment and self-expression rather than morals and justice are what motivates and guides us, thereby overcoming our alienated states.
This topic became important for Alexander because when he was growing up he had to grapple with and was presented with various moral and human rights dilemmas. My childhood upbringing was a religious (Christian) one, and in various ways I was brought up according to a strict moral code. Although I have abandoned formal religion, this moral code still very much guides me in much of my everyday life. Aiming to treat people morally and justly on an individual basis is important, I think, but obviously will always very problematic whilst we live in capitalism. However, Glenn said that in capitalism there is not and cannot be any rights. So, Alex grew up with these 2 rather at times seemingly confusing and contradictory strands. It made rough sense to us, somewhat intuitively, I guess, but not necessarily so for our offspring! So, anyway, this is something that Alex had now made explicit.
In this essay of his, Alexander sort to unravel this, and articulates the arguments clearly, and that is a real achievement, and is something that could be of benefit to a lot of people, I think. In its own right, it is ground-breaking, in this way. In capitalism we do and must abide to some sort of moral code, in order to get by; and that of course, is why Christianity can be seen to be so conducive to the continued success of capitalism, and why it has endured so long. But this of course, means that it is all based more on morals and duty, rather than on love. However, if we do not abide by a moral code and some ethical principles in capitalism, then people can get exploited more rather than less, and their lives can get messed up. Sadly, it is too romantic, and just impossible for love to rise above it and solve it all. On the other hand, without love at all, we would be sadly lost. Capitalism could not keep going without people loving each other to some extent, and yet, at the same time, it exploits it. In addition, capitalism seems to provide people with ‘rights’ but they are only rights within the system, to ensure the continued success of capitalism, and are not rights for the essence, for the ultimate good of the human. For love, self-fulfilment, real human rights and self-expression and actualisation to fully and properly flourish, and for humans not to be alienated from their species-being, we need to move towards a world beyond capitalism and beyond simplistic notions of justice.
So, specifically, in regard to Marx, Capitalism, Justice and Communism, Alexander says that:
“...Marx believed that justice is determined by the current mode of production, and according to the capitalist mode of production, exploitation of the workers is just. Marx did not think that capitalism is unjust, because he believed that whatever protects the current mode of production is just....Under the capitalist mode of production, it is a fact that capitalism is just. Also, although Marx believed we would be better off under communism, he thought that a communist society would be beyond justice.” (p.6)
He concludes by saying that:
“...in order for us to understand what Marx actually thought about both communism and capitalism, we need to appreciate the fact that for Marx, although justice is a concept used in rationalizing the workings of our capitalist society, it is of no use in helping us to understand what communism is all about.” (p.6)
So, in an ultimate sense notions of justice are not really helpful and we need to move beyond this.
I can see that Alexander’s position and argument will cause problems for many people. I have read and re-read this essay of his many times, and keep thinking about it again and again, weighing it all up, and always end up being firmly of the opinion that he is right. But it is not an easy thing to accept. One’s initial instinct for those of us that are so disturbed by all the injustices that exist in the world is to conclude that capitalism is unjust. But the problem with such a position is that others who seek to defend capitalism will try to prove very hard that capitalism is just, and indeed, bring in various laws, rights, declarations and principles as and when is necessary in order to prove that it can be made to be just, when various stark injustices rear their head – i.e. that even if it is not just now, that it can be made to be just. Then, it can be argued that it is a good system, and there is no need to seek to look beyond it. But if the argument is turned on its head, as Alexander does here, then all that becomes impossible, and instead, we need and can then meaningfully start to think and work towards a system beyond capitalism, rather than thinking that somehow or other, we can get capitalism to work for the ultimate good of humankind, according to some general principles and laws of justice, rights, ethics and morality. We have to be brave to engage with this mode of thinking though; but it is surely the only sensible way forward.
I can see that Alexander’s position and argument will cause problems for many people. I have read and re-read this essay of his many times, and keep thinking about it again and again, weighing it all up, and always end up being firmly of the opinion that he is right. But it is not an easy thing to accept. One’s initial instinct for those of us that are so disturbed by all the injustices that exist in the world is to conclude that capitalism is unjust. But the problem with such a position is that others who seek to defend capitalism will try to prove very hard that capitalism is just, and indeed, bring in various laws, rights, declarations and principles as and when is necessary in order to prove that it can be made to be just, when various stark injustices rear their head – i.e. that even if it is not just now, that it can be made to be just. Then, it can be argued that it is a good system, and there is no need to seek to look beyond it. But if the argument is turned on its head, as Alexander does here, then all that becomes impossible, and instead, we need and can then meaningfully start to think and work towards a system beyond capitalism, rather than thinking that somehow or other, we can get capitalism to work for the ultimate good of humankind, according to some general principles and laws of justice, rights, ethics and morality. We have to be brave to engage with this mode of thinking though; but it is surely the only sensible way forward.
Alexander’s King’s College, London Philosophy of Mind essays are also now up on our website. These are:
‘Is it right to define an action as an event caused by a reason?’
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Actions%20Reasons%20Events
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Actions%20Reasons%20Events
‘What is intentionality? What philosophical problems does it present?’
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Intentionality
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Intentionality
‘Mary could know all the physical facts, but not know what it is like to see red. So physicalism is false.’ Discuss.
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Physicalism
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=articles&sub=Physicalism
Alexander’s degree, in general, proved to be very demanding; he had to read the raw text of many of the great philosophers (e.g. Kant, Berkeley, Descartes, Marx, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Aristotle, Plato, Hume, Rawls, Nozick Quine, Mill). Not many first degrees demand that students read the raw text of the great thinkers in their subjects to that extent (I certainly did not do this for my degree). Most rely far more on secondary sources.
After all this reading, he concluded that his 2 favourite philosophers were Marx and Wittgenstein, closely followed by J.S. Mill. He also concluded it has to be said, that many of these great philosophers were not actually saying all that much when it got down to it. But still, the groundwork has to be laid, to enable us to move on in our thinking.
In regard to Wittgenstein he said that he laid the ground rules for effective language and communication and that Marx implemented these tools. This was the case, even though Wittgenstein came after Marx. Marx was a genius; he was doing this instinctively without actually having Wittgenstein’s hard core ‘base’ to help him and to work with. He knew that it was absolutely vital to use words and concepts correctly and effectively, in order the unravel the complexities of capitalism, to analyse it and then seek to move beyond it. As Marx famously says: ”The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.”
However, people use words and concepts ineffectively and inappropriately on a daily basis, and this is what Wittgenstein sort to address. He also thought that much of Philosophy was a mistake, so in this way Wittgenstein and Marx also had a lot of similarities (apart from them both being geniuses of course). They both thought Philosophy was useful (and wrote their dissertations in Philosophy), but both could clearly see the limitations of the subject. This is why Wittgenstein left his position as a Philosophy Lecturer at Cambridge University for a long period, and worked as a gardener and a teacher instead. He returned to Cambridge years later, having changed/adapted his philosophical thinking, and because of this we have the early Wittgenstein and the late Wittgenstein. Marx in contrast, never worked at a university at all, was never a lecturer and did not play the ‘academic game’ (wise man, I am now starting to think!). Obviously, he had Engels to support him, but he also worked in the editing and publishing field. So, both Marx and Wittgenstein thought Philosophy was useful, but that it should know its place, and that one should not be spending ones lifetime merely philosophising. Indeed, if we do, Wittgenstein thought that we would be likely to be in the game of creating problems rather than solving them. In this frame of mind, he used to advise his Philosophy students to go off and do some manual work.
Then, finally, we have J.S. Mill. As I have said before, I was heartened to discover relatively recently that Mill’s wife, Harriet Taylor, helped him with quite a lot of his writing, even writing some bits for him. I think this helps to explain why Mill’s writing is so clear, readable and approachable. Because his writing is so very much this way though, I think that it can be rather taken for granted; it can all be seen to be just so obvious. However, presenting and explaining ideas and ways of thinking simply and clearly is a real art, in fact. It is much easier to confuse! Yet, when it seems to be so obvious, it can then seem to be not that important sometimes. This is what Mill is up against, I think. The civilised society that we live in today (such as it is – with all its flaws etc) is partly a result of Mill-type philosophy. You know, the good parts come from Mill (liberty etc). For me, his work on Utilitarianism (originating from Jeremy Bentham) is particularly valuable, and certainly fits in with Marx in regard to the essence of what it is to be human and how we should be aiming to live life in a full and rounded way; whilst also living this way for the good of the many rather than just for the few (‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’).
In sum, then, I tend to agree with Alexander about who are the 3 best philosophers (even though I have not read all the philosophers that he has read, of course). But certainly, the works of Marx, Wittgenstein and Mill are all brilliant and have helped humankind just so much in general with their overall conception and understanding of life.
So, anyway, in overall conclusion, Alexander’s King’s degree was very demanding albeit rewarding, with weekly essays of 1,000 words in the first 2 years and with 12 pre-submission essays of 3,000 words in the final year. But it was a very worthwhile experience for him, and he can now present arguments very clearly and logically and unravel many complexities in life. All this very much built on the Philosophy Diploma that he studied for at Birkbeck College, University of London, prior to this.
9. THE VALUE OF COMPLETING WORTHWHILE WORKS
Leading on from item 8 seems an appropriate time and space to talk briefly about the importance of completing worthwhile works in general, I think, as opposed to taking short cuts. Alexander was all very much for doing a very worthwhile, life-changing degree (in regard to his outlook on life, and his ways of thinking and being in general). Not for him the shortcuts and easy options. Whilst it meant that he did give himself a very steep learning curve (having left school at 16 years of age), it also meant that he came away with something very worthwhile and lasting.
9. THE VALUE OF COMPLETING WORTHWHILE WORKS
Leading on from item 8 seems an appropriate time and space to talk briefly about the importance of completing worthwhile works in general, I think, as opposed to taking short cuts. Alexander was all very much for doing a very worthwhile, life-changing degree (in regard to his outlook on life, and his ways of thinking and being in general). Not for him the shortcuts and easy options. Whilst it meant that he did give himself a very steep learning curve (having left school at 16 years of age), it also meant that he came away with something very worthwhile and lasting.
Now, many seek to short-change things, I think, and come away the poorer rather than the richer. This can be done for various reasons, such as pressure from society, individuals and well, just laziness sometimes, I think, in all honesty.
Glenn and I have never been into that game, although sometimes despite ourselves, we have got sucked into the mentality for short periods (it can be particularly difficult when one’s writing is valued and various offers are made to one). Our way is, of course, very time-consuming and requires a lot of hard work, diligence and patience. But it is also very inspiring and rewarding. Indeed, for us, it is the only way to achieve lasting happiness, fulfilment and success – that is for sure.
And so, this also of course, leads us to be passionate about books, and indeed, worthwhile, creative works in general. Taking time and being patient is important for creating anything really worthwhile, whether this be writing books and articles, music (composing, dancing, choreography work etc), rearing children, decorating a house, painting pictures, making films, taking professional photographs, writing poetry or whatever. I knew this instinctively in regard to books when I was growing up.
Yet, many people still continue to take short cuts. They often do not realise, appreciate and fully understand the effort that some people put into creating worthwhile, lovely and quality things and how this can enrich ones life, as well as the lives of so many others. Neither do they celebrate the wonders enough (take Mozart, for example, being so very poor, living hand to mouth and dying at the age of 35 years). But let us not be negative; let us rise above things, and aim to celebrate and lead life at the high level, where the human essence is seen to be something that is fundamentally wholesome and wonderful, rather than sick. My Salsa dance teacher, Kerry, incidentally is a wonderful living example of this.
With these thoughts in mind, I will return shortly to my latest important project. Watch this space in time, for further information in regard to this – although not for some while yet it has to be said because as I say, these things take time, work, patience, diligence and determination. But after all that, comes the beauty and the flowers, shining fully and ripely on the world, and then we can celebrate and enjoy.
Best wishes
Ruth
4th December 2010
Best wishes
Ruth
4th December 2010
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