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CHAPTER 1
The
Essence of Capitalism
What is the essence
of Capitalism? How do Capitalists receive and take dominion over Man as worker? What is
the mystery of this dominion? What danger is concealed in Capitalism? Can Capitalism
self-destruct? These and other complex and fascinating questions concerning Capitalism can
be answered. Martin Heidegger's thinking on the subject of dominion through technology
provides the essential intellectual machinery for probing the essence of Capitalism. (In
the following, unless otherwise noted, concepts in italics, and expressions between quotes
are borrowed or adapted from Heidegger, and from Nietzsche, as quoted in Heidegger.
Detailed references are given in the Bibliography.)
HEIDEGGER
HELD THAT THE ESSENCE OF TECHNOLOGY IS AN "ENFRAMING" -- A SUMMONS FOR MAN TO
DOMINATE NATURE. THE "ENFRAMING" IS WHAT REVEALS NATURE AS MAN'S DOMINION
-- AS A "STANDING-RESERVE" TO BE "ORDERED" AND "COMMANDED."1
The
Dominion Imperative. One can hardly conceive of mastery
over nature without science and technology. In an article on the
"scientific-technological elite,"2 Robert C. Wood, mindful of the
formidable impact that Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Edward Teller, and other physicists
have had on national policy issues, revealed the scientists' true forte: " . . .
MANIPULATING NATURE IS THE SCIENTIST'S STOCK IN TRADE"3 [my emphasis]. Today, the power to
manipulate nature boggles the mind -- it goes well beyond Archimedes' "eureka."
H-bombs and other nuclear devices can easily obliterate Man. These extreme military forms
of the TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE,4 these means of achieving "real
orgies of destruction,"5 are a sure threat to Man. But the
technological imperative is not the only threat. The DOMINION IMPERATIVE -- the
concentration of vast global financial and electronic powers for the purpose of dominating
Man as mere "stock" of servitude -- can be as devastating. To be sure, Man needs
security against nuclear attack. But he also needs security against GLOBAL SERVITUDE.
To my mind, Heidegger
revealed much more than he unconcealed. To be sure, technology (grounded in modern
science) does summon Man to dominate nature. But, what about Capitalism? Doesn't it summon
the Capitalist to dominate Man as servant?
Heidegger's central claim
is that technology summons man to dominate nature, and that dominion is very much bound up
with technology. The scope of Heidegger's philosophy is very broad: nature includes Man;
and dominion over nature includes dominion over Man. The scope is broad enough to
incorporate all techniques of dominion. However, to avoid any misunderstanding, I must
warn the reader that Heidegger's focus was technology, and not Capitalism. To my
mind, Capitalism is the primal technology for dominating Man as worker; as such, it
falls squarely within the scope of Heidegger's philosophy. Technology is grounded in
science. So is Darwinism. While Capitalism is not grounded in science (or any law of God
for that matter), it is grounded in legitimized animal Darwinism in the marketplace.
Following Heidegger's method of thinking on technology, and using his concepts and
terminology, I shall, therefore, propose to unconceal Capitalism, and expand the scope of
technology, as follows6:
CAPITALISM IS THE
TECHNOLOGY THAT SUMMONS THE CAPITALIST TO DOMINATE MAN AS MERE SERVANT -- AS LABOR
"STOCK," "ON CALL" AS "STANDING-RESERVE," TO BE
"ORDERED," TO BE "CONTROLLED," AT THE "COMMAND" OF
CAPITALISTS.
Unconcealment.
Heidegger noted that nature conceals its secrets. Man's ingenuity consists in unconcealing
the secrets of nature for his benefit. This ingenuity, structured and organized, is called
technology. For Heidegger, a "hydroelectric plant" is Man's way of
unconcealing energy; the plant is "energy concealed in nature" revealed --
unlocked, transformed, stored, distributed, switched about, regulated, secured.7 The power plant is unconcealed
energy -- energy "ordered to stand by," at "our command."8 This led Heidegger to argue that
Man's summons to dominate nature is enframed in technology.9 Technology is not only the
instrument for ordering and controlling nature; it is what summons
Man to dominate her. Heidegger's concept of dominion as technology -- and of technology as
summons for dominion -- touches dominion in all its forms. Every dominion is grounded in a
technology. And every technology is a summons to dominate.
Enframent.
In what way is Capitalism a technology for dominating Man? What enframing summons
Man as Capitalist to dominate Man as mere servant? The answer has a shocking Magian
simplicity. It is the Solomonic creed -- "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the
borrower is servant to the lender" [Proverbs 22:7]. To my mind, this creed enframes
Capitalism -- it is Capitalism's most primal revelation. It eternalizes10 the Nietzschian "will to
power" of the rich, and the reality of servitude for the poor. The hydroelectric
plant is unconcealed energy ordered to stand by. Man, likewise, is unconcealed labor,
ordered to stand by, at the command of the Capitalist. Science entraps nature as calculable
energy reserve, for the benefit of Man.11 Capitalism entraps Man as calculable
reserve of servitude, for the benefit of the rich. Energy is measured in Joules and Ergs,
and in dollars. Man's servitude is measured in man-days, and in dollars.
AS
PRIMAL REVELATION, THE SOLOMONIC CREED IS THE DESTINING RULE OF CAPITALISM -- THE RICH IS
DESTINED TO RULE OVER THE POOR, AND THE BORROWER IS DESTINED TO SERVE THE LENDER.
AS SUCH, THIS CREED IS THE DEEPEST AND DARKEST ROOT OF THE SYSTEM OF LAWS. ALL THE CORE
FLAWS IN LEGISLATIONS ARE DESCENDED FROM IT (see Plate 1-1).
Heidegger argued that
technology is what secures, preserves, and enhances the dominion of
Man over nature. It is what makes dominion enduring; it is what grants it permanence.12
THE SOLOMONIC CREED IS THE
MAGIAN DESTINING RULE TO SECURE, PRESERVE, AND ENHANCE CAPITALIST DOMINION. IT IS THE
DESTINING THAT GRANTS CAPITALISM ITS PERMANENT ENDURING.
Supreme
Danger. Heidegger warned that enframing is "the supreme
danger."13 No sooner than nature is unconcealed
to Man as standing-reserve,14 "[Man] himself will have to be
taken as standing-reserve."15 What is dangerous, Heidegger held,
is not technology, but "the essence of technology, as a destining of revealing."16 Technology transfers God's dominion
to Man. Ironically, this transfer of dominion exposes Man -- to himself --, not as God,
but as nothing but "object" or "'human material.'"17 The Solomonic creed, as a destining
for Capitalist dominion, is therefore extremely dangerous.
THE CAUSATIVE FORCE FOR
TAKING DOMINION OVER MAN AS WORKER PURE AND SIMPLE, AND, THEREFORE, FOR WIDESPREAD
SERVITUDE, IS MONEY. FOR PURE CAPITALISTS, EVERYTHING AND
EVERYONE IS AN OBJECT -- A THING TO BE BOUGHT AND SOLD IN THE MARKETPLACE, WITH
MONEY; A THING TO BE CONTROLLED AND MANIPULATED, THROUGH MONEY. MONEY IS GOD. THE
LAW OF THE MARKETPLACE IS A LAW OF NATURE AND A LAW OF GOD (CF. ROCKEFELLER).
Power and Subjugation. Nietzsche warned that "will to
power" implies that everything and everyone can be stamped as value.
"In all will there is valuing . . ." Nietzsche asserted.18 In the marketplace, where
"valuing" takes place, where "worth" is established, even God can be
"stamped as value."19 This is what drove Nietzsche's Madman
to run to the marketplace and cry: "Whither is God . . . We have killed him -- you
and I."20 This, in turn, drove Heidegger to
warn that "Being [our life, our existence] has been transformed into a value."21 In addition, Nietzsche's warning
prompted Heidegger to warn of the "extreme danger"22 from technology. Technology
transforms the world into objects that can be dominated.
THROUGH THE AGENCY OF
MONEY, MAN'S BEING IS TRANSFORMED INTO A SECURE AND ENDURING SOURCE OF LABOR FOR THE RICH.
IN THE MARKETPLACE, MAN IS STAMPED AS VALUE. IT IS PRECISELY
THIS DREADFUL ACT THAT REDUCES MAN TO A MERE OBJECT, AND SUBJUGATES HIM AS
ECONOMIC SERVITUDE OR SLAVERY, PURE AND SIMPLE.
Self-Destruction.
The marketplace stamps and changes objects into mere value. The danger arises when Man
himself is transformed into mere value (e.g., man-hours). When this happens, Man as Being
is "degraded . . . despoiled . . . obliterated."23 The marketplace stamps Man
as monetary value and debases him. Competition, unconcealed, is
nothing but the struggle for dominion over Man. Man, as mind and spirit, has a
value only in as far as these can be subjugated as work -- cerebrum and cerebellum at the
service of the Capitalist. This should answer the question: what danger is concealed in
Capitalism?
THE WILLING TO POWER OF A
FEW MEANS SUBJUGATING THE MANY. THE UNCONDITIONAL DOMINION OF MAN -- AS MERE HOARD
OF LABOR, READY TO BE COMMANDED AND CONTROLLED -- DEGRADES, DESPOILS, AND OBLITERATES
MAN'S BEING -- INCLUDING THAT OF THE CAPITALIST MASTERS. THE
DEVALUATION OF MAN'S BEING IS PRECISELY WHY SELF-DESTRUCTION IS THE ONLY ULTIMATE
DESTINY OF CAPITALISM.
Nietzsche
on "the Advent of Nihilism." The Will to Power is an
unparalleled collection of philosophical notes written by Friedrich Nietzsche during
1883-1888. In these, Nietzsche proposed to foretell the history of the 20th and 21st
centuries. "What is coming, what can no longer come differently," he wrote, is "the
advent of nihilism."24 He saw signs announcing our destiny
everywhere; and concluded that we (European culture) are headed toward
"catastrophe."25 Why? Because catastrophe is the
"ultimate logical conclusion of our great values and ideals."26 What causes this nihilism? For
Nietzsche, nihilism is rooted in the decline of values. And how does the
"psychological state" of nihilism come into being? Nietzsche advanced three ways27:
- Man seeks
"'meaning'" in all events; but finds nothing but self-deceit. He discovers that
his "becoming aims at nothing and achieves nothing." A terrible
reality dawns on him: his whole "evolution" has "no goal" -- he has wasted
his strength; he has deceived himself. He becomes "discouraged" and
"ashamed."
- Man seeks the "grand
unity" that underlies all becoming, all events; but finds no such unity. He discovers
that there is no "universal" system, no supreme value to identify with. The
terrible reality is that there is simply no "supreme form of domination or
administration" that allows Man "to be able to believe in his own
value."
- Man's failure to find an
"aim," "unity," or "truth" for his existence pushes him to
reject the "whole world of becoming as a deception." Thinking that there is an escape,
he proceeds to invent his own "true world." Unfortunately, he soon
discovers that his fabricated "being" is nothing but "psychological
needs." Worse, he has "no right" to the world. Full of
"disbelief", he can no longer "endure" the world. The
"world looks valueless" and meaningless. All "human constructs of
domination" are nothing but pure fiction.
For Nietzsche, nihilism is
bound up with morality -- specifically, Christian morality. True, we need, what Nietzsche
called, a "critique of Christian morality."28 But such critique would be
scratching the surface of morality. What we really need is a critique of Solomonic
morality -- "The rich ruleth over the poor; and the
borrower is servant to the lender." This is the deepest and
darkest root of Man's servitude -- as "eternal recurrence."29 This is the shabbiest Magian
superstition. This is what must be changed "to make way for a new order
of life."30 Christian
morality is the divine rebellion against the "shabby origin"31 of a moral
order based on money. Money -- as fictitious hoard of human energy beyond
good and evil -- has only one meaning: servitude. We need a new enduring
tool for exchange in the marketplace. We need to revaluate Capitalism itself. Fictitious Bank-Money cannot be the grand unifying system of Man's Being.
To me, Nietzsche's will
to power means simply this:
WE, THE ELECTORATE, MUST
CHOOSE:
- WHAT
WE BECOME
- HOW WE
DEVELOP
- WHAT VALUES
OF EXISTENCE MATTER TO US.
THESE ITEMS, AS DELINEATED
BY NIETZSCHE,32 DEFINE THE ORDER OF LIFE.
THESE ARE WHAT IS ENFRAMED IN OUR SYSTEM OF LAWS. TRUE, ESCAPE FROM CATASTROPHE IS
CONDITIONAL ON OUR BEING FREE FROM MAGIAN MORALITIES OF MONEY. BUT FREEDOM FROM MONEY IS
NOT ENOUGH. WE, THE ELECTORATE, MUST DECIDE THE GROUNDS AND THE
WORLD-CONCEPTION THAT UNDERLIE OUR SYSTEM OF LAWS. FAILURE
TO DO SO IS BOUND TO LEAD TO CATASTROPHE. THIS DECISION IS OUR GREATEST
CHALLENGE, AS WE PREPARE TO STEP INTO THE NEXT MILLENNIUM.
Will
Capitalism Self-Destruct? Joseph Schumpeter addressed the
question "Can Capitalism Survive?"33 He saw the process of Capitalism as
an industrial process of mutation, not unlike the biologic process. He described the
Capitalist process as "Creative Destruction"34 -- an alternating process of
creation followed by destruction (Nietzsche's "eternal recurrence"?). He held
that " . . . there is inherent in the capitalist system a tendency toward
self-destruction . . . ,"35 and concluded that Capitalism would
eventually be killed by its own successes.36 Even the entrepreneur risks being ousted
and expropriated by "giant industrial units."37
When
will Capitalism self-destruct? The massive concentration of global
financial and electronic powers in Big Business, if at the expense of the citizen, would,
to my mind, be the culminating, or turning point for Capitalism. As I suggested in Book
II, the stability of a purely Capitalist system is determined by the rate of change of two
kinds of forces -- both measured in units of money. When social and economic repulsion
energy (e.g., from force fields that repel groups of people from other groups or from Big
Business) exceed the society's binding energy (e.g., derived from a common culture,
language, beliefs, etc.), the society's stability gives way to turbulence, rebellion,
separation, or decay. The crucial variable in this process is the degree to which each
person is indentured to Capitalist groups (directly through net personal debt, and
indirectly through government net debt). Good indexes of personal indenture or servitude
include debt outstanding of persons and unincorporated business and net
consolidated government debt, as percentages of personal disposable income.
These indexes, in combination with the tax rates and the misery index (the unemployment
rate plus the inflation rate), provide an order of magnitude for Capitalist
encroachment over the citizen. The simplest linear combination of such indexes constitute
what I call the CAPITALIST ENCROACHMENT INDEX™. The larger the
encroachment index, the greater is the probability of Capitalist self-destruction.
CAPITALISM -- AS
DARWINISTIC TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMESTICATING MAN AS LABOR -- WILL SELF-DESTRUCT FOR TWO
REASONS:
- THE RULE OF THE RICH, AND
THE SERVITUDE OF BORROWERS, AS ENFRAMED IN THE SOLOMONIC CREED, HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO
BASIS IN REASON.
- DARWINISM IN THE
MARKETPLACE, AS CURRENTLY LEGITIMIZED IN SYSTEMS OF LAWS, HAS NO BASIS IN NATURE. DOMINION
OVER MAN (HOWEVER CONCEALED) CAN NEVER BE ANYTHING BUT UNNATURAL SELECTION.
Unnatural
Selection. The
fundamental strategies and practices of modern Capitalism -- usury, monopoly, and
divide-to-rule -- have been hated or considered injurious, for millennia, with good
reason. Usury was declared unnatural by Aristotle more than 322 years before
Christ. Monopoly was declared injurious to the interests of the state by Dionysius.
Divide-to-rule strategies have been causes of discontent, rebellion, and sedition; they
have been most injurious to democracies. Let me focus on the primal argument
against usury. This argument was articulated by Aristotle, in Politics, as follows:
"The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason; it makes a profit from
currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve.
Currency came into existence merely as a means of exchange; usury tries to make it
increase. . . Hence we can understand why, of all modes of acquisition, usury is the
most unnatural"38 [my emphasis].
What can be deduced from
Aristotelian logic? Fictitious bank-money for credit creation is most unnatural. Not only
is such money fictitious, it earns interest and fees for usurers at the expense of other
people; and, when it does not, the defaulting borrower can be exploited, defiled,
destabilized, or bankrupted. Imagine being indentured then
bankrupted by fictitious bank-money! Which leads me to Darwin -- and to
Darwinistic Capitalism in the marketplace. For Darwin, "Natural Selection or the
Survival of the Fittest" consists in "[the] preservation of favourable
individual differences and variations," and in "the destruction of those which
are injurious."39 Given that usury is most unnatural,
Capitalism, in its current form, cannot endure. The more ubiquitous usury becomes, the
greater the probability of Capitalist self-destruction. The fact that Capitalism has
endured is no proof of natural selection (as pointed out by Nietzsche, what is a
few ephemeral millennia!) -- the Ptolemaic doctrine supported by the Church endured for
about 1800 years before it received the death blow from Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo.
Usury has been most favorable to usurers. But, as unnatural selection, usury has been, and
will continue to be, injurious to Man. The more ubiquitous it becomes in the modern
Capitalist state, the greater the probability of its extinction. The history of the epoch
of Capitalism will be no different from that of the dinosaurs.
TO PARAPHRASE
DARWIN, THE ONLY PROFITABLE VARIATION THAT WOULD MANIFESTLY BE FAVORABLE TO NATURAL
SELECTION IS NOT DOMINION OVER MAN, BUT DOMINION OVER MAN'S DUMBNESS, DARKNESS,
IRRATIONALITY -- INCLUDING EGOISM, SADISTICALLY DESTRUCTIVE GREED, SELF-DELUSION, AND
SUPERSTITION. ANIMALS MAY SURVIVE AND EVOLVE -- BUT THEY CANNOT CHANGE THEIR DESTINY. ONLY
BY TRIUMPHING OVER THE DARWINISTIC ANIMAL IN HIM -- THE UNFAVORABLE AND INJURIOUS
IRRATIONAL IN HIM -- CAN MAN CHANGE HIS DESTINY. IT IS PRECISELY
THIS CAPACITY TO CHANGE DESTINY THAT IS MAN'S MOST FAVORABLE DARWINIAN DIFFERENCE AND
VARIATION.
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| 1
Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays,
translated and with an Introduction by William Lovitt, 1977, at 16-17, 24, 26-29
("The essence of technology lies in Enframing"), 30-31, 80, 92, 94-112, and
172-173. 2
President Eisenhower's expression; as quoted in Don K. Price, The Scientific
Establishment, in Scientists and National Policy-Making, edited by Robert
Gilpin and Christopher Wright, 1964, at 19.
3 Robert C.
Wood, Scientists and Politics: The Rise of an Apolitical Elite, in Scientists
and National-Policy Making, edited by Robert Gilpin and Christopher Wright, 1964, at
47 and 55.
4 Bethe's
expression; see Hans A. Bethe, The Road from Los Alamos, 1991, at 132-137 (The
Technological Imperative).
5 Mumford's
expression; see Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine, 1966 and 1967, at 54-58
(Man's Terrible Freedom), especially at 55.
6 Martin
Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, translated and with
an Introduction by William Lovitt, 1977, at 17 (nature "ordered to stand by . . . on
call" . . . as "standing-reserve," more than mere "stock").
7 Ibid., at
16.
8 Ibid., at
17.
9 Ibid., at
20-21 (enframing).
10 Nietzsche
definition of Right, as "the will to eternalize a momentary power relation"
(XIII, Aph. 462, 1883) is quoted in Heidegger; ibid., at 92.
11 Martin
Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, translated and with
an Introduction by William Lovitt, 1977, at 21.
12 Ibid., at
30 ("All essencing endure"), and 31 ("Only what is granted endures";
derived from Goethe's "to grant permanently," as quoted in Heidegger).
13 Ibid., at
24 ("history as something destined"), 26-28 (" . . . think Enframing in the
sence of destining and danger."), 41-42, and 48 ("All attempts to reckon
existing reality . . . in terms of decline and loss, in terms of fate, catastrophe, and
destruction, are merely technological behavior").
14 Ibid., at
23 ("standing-reserve").
15 Ibid., at
27.
16 Ibid., at
28.
17 Ibid., at
90-101, especially at 101.
18 Friedrich
Nietzsche (XIII, Aphorism 395, 1884); quoted in Martin Heidegger, The Question
Concerning Technology and Other Essays, translated and with an Introduction by William
Lovitt, 1977, at 80.
19 Martin Heidegger, The
Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, 1977, at 102-103 ("When the
Being . . . is stamped as value . . . every way to the experiencing of Being itself is
obliterated").
20 Friedrich
Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882, translated, with a Commentary, by Walter Kaufman,
number 125 at 181-182 (The Madman); quoted in Heidegger, The Question Concerning
Technology and Other Essays, at 59-60.
21 Martin Heidegger, The
Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, 1977, at 102.
22 Ibid., at
26 ("supreme danger"), and 33 ("extreme danger").
23 Ibid., at
100-105, especially 103.
24 Friedrich
Nietzsche, The Will to Power, 1901, translated by Walter Kaufmann and R.J.
Hollingdale, and edited, with Commentary, by Walter Kaufmann, 1967, at 3-4
25 Ibid., at
3.
26 Ibid., at
4.
27 Ibid., at
12-14 (Decline of Cosmological Values).
28 Nietzsche's
expression for "The supreme values in whose service man should live"; ibid.,
at 7-8 ("A critique of Christian morality is still lacking"); see also
97-127 (History of Christianity), and 127-146 (Christian Ideals).
29 Nietzsche's
expression; ibid., at 544-550 (THE ETERNAL RECURRENCE).
30 Nietzsche's
expression; ibid., number 1055 at 544, and number 1066 at 548-549 (The new
world-conception).
31 Nietzsche's
expression for "The supreme values in whose service man should live"; ibid.,
number 7 at 10-11 ("shabby origin" of "social values . . . as
commands of God, as 'reality, as the 'true' world, as a hope and future
world.").
32 Friedrich
Nietzsche, The Will to Power (1901), translated by Walter Kaufmann and R.J.
Hollingdale, and edited, with Commentary, by Walter Kaufmann, 1967, number 1058 at 545.
33 Joseph A.
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942), with a new Introduction by
Tom Bottomore, 1976, at 59-64 (Can Capitalism Survive?), especially at 61 ("Can
capitalism survive? No. I dot think it can").
34 Ibid., at
81-86 (The Process of Creative Destruction), especially 83.
35 Ibid., at
156-163 (Decomposition), especially 162.
36 Ibid., at
ix.
37 Ibid., at
131-139 (The Obsolescence of the Entrepreneurial Function), especially 134.
38 Aristotle, Politics,
translated by Ernest Barker, revised with an Introduction and Notes by R.F. Stalley, 1995,
at 28-30 (on usury: 1258a35), and 30-33 (on monopoly: 1258b39),
especially 30.
39 Charles Darwin,
The Origin of Species (1859), in Darwin, A Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed.,
edited by Philip Appleman, 1970 and 1979, at 53-59 (Natural Selection; Or the Survival of
the Fittest), especially 54. |
|
CAUSALITY OF CAPITALISM
AS
TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMINATING MAN AS SERVANT |
| CAUSE1 |
CAPITALISM
AS TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMINATING MAN |
| MATERIAL |
Entrepreneurs as creators of new wealth
Man as worker and consumer
Material resources
Money
Time |
| EFFICIENT |
Government as Executive, Legislator, Judiciary
Central bank
Bankers as deposit takers, lenders, money changers, usurers, etc.
Capitalists as merchants or industrialists
Monopolists |
| FORMAL |
Legislation as a system of net advantages for
Capitalists
Divide-to-rule strategies for dominating Man as servant
Capital as embodiment of all previously expanded labor2
The business cycle as a system of harvesting or predation |
| FINAL |
Technology for dominating the earth3
Capitalism as technology for dominating Man as "stock" of labor |
|
Table 1-1
The Causality of
Capitalism as Technology for Dominating Man as ServantThe four kinds of causes are those
distinguished by Aristotle in Physics. The formal cause reveals the formal
order and structure for the creation and transfer of wealth -- from Man as Servant to the
Capitalist as Master. The final cause reveals the implicit grand design
of Capitalism: the Dominion by Capitalists over Man and Earth.
Sources:
1 Aristotle, Physics, translated by Robin Waterfield, with an
Introduction and Notes by David Bostock, 1996, at 38-42 and 48-53
2 John M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money,
1964, at 213-214 (Keynes: "I sympathise . . . with the pre-classical doctrine that
everything is produced by labour, aided by what used to be called art and is now
called technique, by natural resources which are free or cost a rent according to their
scarcity or abundance, and by the results of past labour, embodied in assets, which also
command a price according to their scarcity or abundance. It is preferable to regard
labour, including, of course, the personal services of the entrepreneur and his
assistants, as the sole factor of production, operating in a given environment of
technique, natural resources, capital equipment and effective demand" [italics in the
original].)
3 Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays,
translated and with an Introduction by William Lovitt, 1977, at 3-35 (Part I, The
Question Concerning Technology, at 3-35), and 96-99 (Part II, The Word of
Nietzsche, at 53-112)
[Copyright © 1998 by
MACROKNOW INC. All rights reserved.]
|
|
THE ORIGIN OF CAPITALIST SELECTION
THE
PROPAGATION OF FLAWS IN THE MACHINERY OF THE LAW |
| LEGEND |
| a |
Original progenitor flaw in the Constitution or
in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms |
| b |
Original progenitor flaw in the Legal Code |
| b1-b6 |
Line of succession of descended flaws from
original flaw b |
| c |
Original progenitor flaw in a contract |
| A1 |
Attempts by citizens to counter encroachments
of Big Business -- to change unfair or unjust agreements or administrative procedures |
| A2-A3 |
Attempts by individuals or citizen groups to
amend the Constitution or to change the Legal Code |
| B1 |
Organized operations by Big Business to
influence legislation or regulations so as to increase the net advantages of Big
Business |
| B2 |
Organized efforts by Big Business to influence,
manipulate, or control the public through advertising, public relations, or propaganda |
|
|
Plate 1-1
The Origin of
Capitalist Selection: The Propagation of Flaws in the Machinery of the LawThe Plate shows how a variety of
flaws can propagate, from and through the Legal System, to every aspect of human life.
Several "lines of descent" (a Darwinian expression) for flaws are shown. Flaws
that are enframed in the constitution (in written documents or in unwritten
conventions) or in the law can propagate, branch, and diverge throughout society -- with
potentially catastrophic effects in the long run.
Sources: the concept of natural
selection is from Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859); the concept of enframing
is from Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology, translated by W.
Lovitt, 1977.
[Copyright © 1998 by
MACROKNOW INC. All rights reserved.]
|
|
DIVIDE-TO-RULE STRATEGIES
FOR
DOMINION OVER MAN AS SERVANT |
| STRATEGY |
OBJECTIVE |
WHO CAN
BENEFIT |
| Separate property from its
possessor1 |
To control "articles of property"1
To enslave Man, as "article of property"1 |
Rulers
Masters
Slave owners |
| Divorce Man from his
conscience2 |
To control Man's behavior
To subjugate Man
To "inculcate a sense of peril"2
To sell protection-for-obedience2 |
Church-like institutions (according to Hobbes) |
Separate appearance from
reality3
Present fictitious motives or a "Veil of Deceit"4 |
To manipulate minds psychologically
(perceptions, consciousness, thought processes, causality, meaning, understanding,
desires, etc.)
To deceive others into bending their will to yours4 |
Liars and deceivers
Propagandists |
| Separate Man from nature,
and man from man5 |
To control nature
To control Man |
Rulers
Masters
Capitalists |
| Separate people from their
money |
To control people's money
To control depositors and borrowers
To control credit and investments |
Financial intermediaries
Capitalists
The state |
| Separate the means of
production from workers6 |
To extract labor from workers and control them
To force workers to sell their labor for a wage
To control products and processes of production |
Capitalists as industrialists |
| Divorce the worker from his
own skills and knowledge7 |
To control knowledge
To monopolize technological intelligence7
To transfer "skills" from workers to machines |
Capitalists |
| Separate ownership from
management8 (Berle-Means Corporate
Governance9) |
To control shareholders (with small voting
blocks)
To control investment and securities markets |
Financial institutions
Investment and brokerage firms
Stock Exchanges
Big Stockholders
Top Executives |
| Separate the woman as worker
from her family |
To extract labor from women as workers
To increase competition between men and women as workers
To reduce the cost of labor |
Capitalists |
| Separate Man from his
transactions in the marketplace |
To control transactions in the marketplace
To control buyers and sellers |
Financial Institutions
Credit card services |
|
Table 1-2
Divide-to-Rule
Strategies for Dominion Over Man as ServantThis is a partial list of
divide-to-rule strategies. The strategies are derived from the following sources:
1 Aristotle, Politics, translated by Ernest Barker, revised with an
Introduction and Notes by R.F. Stalley, 1995, at 13-14 (Slavery, 1254a13).
2 Thomas Hobbes, Behemoth (1682), edited by Ferdinand Tönnies, with a
new Introduction by Stephen Holmes, 1990, at xlviii-xlix (Sexual Guilt).
3 Ibid., at xiv (Self-Fulfilling Prophecies).
4 Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea, edited by David
Berman, translated by Jill Berman, 1995 (London, England:J.M. Dent), at 8-9, 17-19 (Locke
and Hume), 209-2167 (trespass, subjugation, cunning, and deceit).
5 David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, 1980, at 1-19
(Fragmentation and Wholeness), especially 3.
6 David F. Noble, America by Design, 1977, at 6, 259 (Charles Babbage
and Karl Marx), 267, and 322-324 (see Karl Marx, Capital (1867-1875), An
Abridged Edition, edited with an Introduction by David McLellan, 1995, at 323
("separation between labour-power and the means of labour")).
7 Ibid., at 267 (A Technology of Social Production).
8 John M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
(1953), 1964, at 150-151.
9 Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means, The Modern Corporation and Private
Property, 1932 (quoted and discussed in R.J. Gilson and M.J. Roe, Understanding the
Japanese Keiretsu: Overlaps Between Corporate Governance and Industrial Organization, The
Yale Law Journal, 102 (4), January 1993, at 871-906).
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