Down with the philosophy...
Sep. 10th, 2009 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dormant_dragonI was recently reading some articles in Capitalist Magazine. Odd, I know, for a libertarian socialist, but I like to explore alternative viewpoints every so often, if only to remind myself why I think I'm right!
Although I agree with some of the views they hold - notably those on religion and abortion, it twigged last night what my nagging unease has always been with capitalism as a sociopolitical philosophy. It's the fact that they emphasise rampant, selfish individualism at the expense of community, and cold, sterile reason at the expense of the essential human experience of emotion.
It's a well-known saying (though I forget whence it comes) that no man is an island, and the biggest problem I have with capitalism is that it tends to ignore this notion. We can't ignore our emotional faculties, even if we don't allow them to control us; and none of us - even the least gregarious, amongst which I count myself - exist independently of our community. While freedom - the capitalist's ultimate catch-cry - is a value to be always sought and if necessary, fought for, we are not free to deny the freedom of others. This is the delicate balancing act with which staunch capitalists fail to engage.
Although I agree with some of the views they hold - notably those on religion and abortion, it twigged last night what my nagging unease has always been with capitalism as a sociopolitical philosophy. It's the fact that they emphasise rampant, selfish individualism at the expense of community, and cold, sterile reason at the expense of the essential human experience of emotion.
It's a well-known saying (though I forget whence it comes) that no man is an island, and the biggest problem I have with capitalism is that it tends to ignore this notion. We can't ignore our emotional faculties, even if we don't allow them to control us; and none of us - even the least gregarious, amongst which I count myself - exist independently of our community. While freedom - the capitalist's ultimate catch-cry - is a value to be always sought and if necessary, fought for, we are not free to deny the freedom of others. This is the delicate balancing act with which staunch capitalists fail to engage.
