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do marxists really believe in polylogism

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garegin Posted: Wed, Apr 7 2010 9:52 PM

i mean c'mon. not even an idiot can argue that mathematical or logical truths can be twisted because of "relations of production". so my question is the extent and context in which that they believe in the notion. 

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Giant_Joe replied on Wed, Apr 7 2010 10:30 PM

garegin:

i mean c'mon. not even an idiot can argue that mathematical or logical truths can be twisted because of "relations of production". so my question is the extent and context in which that they believe in the notion.

I could be wrong, but I think it's one of the main points that support the notion of classes. Hence you hear "bourgeois logic" in a mocking tone from some people.

The silliness of the positions aren't what marxists are about. Most of them are about using violence to alleviate jealousy. And they'll use any nonsensical arguments or whatever to rationalize their violent path to "paradise".

Most amateur marxists don't believe in polylogism, as most of them never even heard of the term or even came across the notion.

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garegin:
not even an idiot can argue that mathematical or logical truths can be twisted because of "relations of production".

You'd be surprised.

Jeff Tucker has an article on this though. Good stuff. 

'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael

 

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garegin replied on Thu, Apr 8 2010 8:27 AM

marx dabbled in math himself. i don't think he would argue that. so my question is the extent and context that he thought polylogism applied to people. 

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garegin:
marx dabbled in math himself. i don't think he would argue that. so my question is the extent and context that he thought polylogism applied to people.

Again, you'd be surprised. Marx explicitly stated that relations of production dictate class behavior and outlooks on social interactions. I haven't come across explicit sentences saying that there are various forms of logic but it is implicit in his belief that various forms of consciousness exist in the world. 

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garegin replied on Thu, Apr 8 2010 10:37 AM

so the question applies to class interests, when different classes take sides based on their prejudices. saying that a class position creates a conflict of interest and that logic is slave to material forces are different positions

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Here's a good article on what polylogic means in which Cain was referring to by Tucker.  Good quote:

"And so it is today with so many political arguments. The rhetoric is on a much lower level today, but this is the usual way in which political discussion takes place in the post-Marxist society in which the polylogist assumption drives discussion. Capitalists can't possibly understand the logic of environmentalist thinking because they are out of touch with nature and its need. Whites cannot even begin to comprehend the demands of blacks for preference and redistribution because the black experience and way of thinking are alien to the white experience and way of thinking. So too with issues of sex, sexuality, religion, and physical ability.

It is usually assumed that one may not even speak about the controversies of our time unless one belongs to the "victim group" being discussed. Even then, if a woman or a black or a gay offers a point of view that runs contrary to the dominant political agenda of the mainstream lobby for these groups, that person is dismissed as somehow lacking higher consciousness or hopelessly mired in a different mindset. She is not a real woman, he is not a real black, they are not really disabled, he doesn't genuinely represent the views of Islam, etc.

What's at work here is an unraveling of the entire basis for any form of intellectual discussion. If we can't agree on universal rules of establishing the veracity of truth claims, all discussion is reduced to a series of demands followed by ad hominem attacks on anyone who resists those demands. Mises himself understood that if we are to avoid this fate, there had to be some understanding and agreement on the rules of logic."

---

There's more in the article on Marxist dismissals of Böhm-Bawerk theoretical, thus, logical rebuttals against Marxism.  For instance, Rudolf Hilferding responded to Böhm-Bawerk by simply saying Böhm-Bawerk was a bourgeois economist.  That was Rudolf's attempt at a refutation but obviously that kind of polylogic fails to intellectually grasp the ideas of Böhm-Bawerk works.

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garegin replied on Thu, Apr 8 2010 7:08 PM

therefore materialist philosophers (not such marx) espouse a doctrine that is not falsifiable.

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garegin:
therefore materialist philosophers (not such marx) espouse a doctrine that is not falsifiable.

How did you come to that conclusion?

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garegin replied on Thu, Apr 8 2010 7:30 PM

they claim that logic is grounded in digestive and biophysical processes. therefore one cannot "check" his logic by using logic.

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garegin:
they claim that logic is grounded in digestive and biophysical processes. therefore one cannot "check" his logic by using logic.

How is that not Marxist?

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garegin replied on Thu, Apr 8 2010 7:44 PM

im asking whether this also applies to other materialists

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garegin:
im asking whether this also applies to other materialists

oh.  I don't know.  I guess it depends on the materialist meaning.  I think some interpret everything into materialistic terms but still recognize abstraction though attempt to interpret abstraction into materialistic terminology.  Which doesn't change anything in my opinion only identifying abstractions with matter but there is still abstraction and matter which is back to square one again.  Is that what you mean?

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garegin:

they claim that logic is grounded in digestive and biophysical processes. therefore one cannot "check" his logic by using logic.

This is interesting. Karl Kautsky actually applied Darwinian theorems with historical materialism. So our logic is merely a natural development of evolution. It is somewhat confusing to explain. He believed that throughout the animal kingdom there are behaviors that are already instilled in human beings, an example would be like a bee hive in coordination. The only thing that differs humans from animals is tools [ an orthodox Marxian view ], we developed language to strengthen social cooperation and logic. But if I am reading you correctly, a bourgeois could not disprove Marxist philosophy because he is a bourgeois. It is like saying our 'tiny, little minds' cannot handle the shock and awesomeness that is Marxism. 

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garegin:

im asking whether this also applies to other materialists

Depends on which materialists. They are pretty diverse in opinion. 

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garegin replied on Fri, Apr 9 2010 10:16 AM

"But if I am reading you correctly, a bourgeois could not disprove Marxist philosophy because he is a bourgeois. It is like saying our 'tiny, little minds' cannot handle the shock and awesomeness that is Marxism. "

right, but wouldnt this, according to marxians, also apply to math, science and computer programming? and if such a view is not held, what makes geology so different from political economy. if a bourgeois mind can correctly use logic to play chess, why cant he also do political economy?

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Giant_Joe replied on Fri, Apr 9 2010 10:17 AM

garegin:

if a bourgeois mind can correctly use logic to play chess, why cant he also do political economy?

Because he was born and raised in the bourgeois class. Behold the power of circular reasoning!

 

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garegin:
right, but wouldnt this, according to marxians, also apply to math, science and computer programming? and if such a view is not held, what makes geology so different from political economy. if a bourgeois mind can correctly use logic to play chess, why cant he also do political economy?

Well the superstructure which is composed of social and political interaction is different for a bourgeois because there is a different economic base. Think of it like two different tree diagrams. One for bourgeois and the other for proletariat. 

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garegin replied on Sat, Apr 10 2010 8:49 PM

so they are ok for math and science but their logical faculties go haywire when they analyze political economics? let's not forget that engels was a capitalist who owned a factory and employed labor.

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garegin:
so they are ok for math and science but their logical faculties go haywire when they analyze political economics? let's not forget that engels was a capitalist who owned a factory and employed labor

Well, they are picky and inconsistent people. Prima facia the whole Marxist orthodoxy is inconsistent. 

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garegin replied on Sun, Apr 11 2010 3:14 PM

unless he was consistent on polylogism and implicitly admitted that he was wrong.Devil

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garegin:

so they are ok for math and science but their logical faculties go haywire when they analyze political economics? let's not forget that engels was a capitalist who owned a factory and employed labor.

Someone should make a t-shirt that says:

"Karl Marx's sugar daddy was a capitalist."

To paraphrase Marc Faber: We're all doomed, but that doesn't mean that we can't make money in the process.
Rabbi Lapin: "Let's make bricks!"
Stephan Kinsella: "Say you and I both want to make a German chocolate cake."

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garegin replied on Sun, Apr 11 2010 3:37 PM

expect that marxists wouldn't have a problem with that. they are not morally opposed to capitalism, social anarchists would though.

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Daniel Muffinburg:
"Karl Marx's sugar daddy was a capitalist."

You are a marketing genius. 

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Conza88 replied on Mon, Apr 12 2010 9:16 AM

"Karl Marx was bourgeois. The proletariat fell into the trap."

"Socialism is the opium of the masses."

lol..

Ron Paul is for self-government when compared to the Constitution. He's an anarcho-capitalist. Proof.
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Or have a picture of Marx with

'False Consciousness'  underneath. 

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garegin replied on Mon, Apr 12 2010 7:55 PM

or "matter before mind".

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garegin:
or "matter before mind".

that's good.

I wonder what class of argumentation that might be considered.  If it already has a name, because those kinds of arguments aren't really arguments all seem to be based on 'matter'.  Whether it's race, sex, history as a form of matter (the data/facts/material events people present about history without any theory is interpret the reasons for all of those facts fitting one way or another), evolution or gene explanations that don't offer any theories or ideas, logical positivism, etc....  The arguments void of arguments that base everything on a 'thing' or matter.

That's a good point.  Do you know if there is one name that fit's them all into one category?

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garegin replied on Mon, Apr 12 2010 9:26 PM

wasnt it shakespare who coined that phrase?

i simply switched the words around.

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