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CHAPTER 8

Supplementary Notes on the Overturning of Capitalism

 

The inspiration for the following notes is Heidegger's The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic.1 Heidegger's focus was philosophical logic in general; mine here is concentrated on the logic of Capitalism.

The overturning of Capitalism is only a matter of time. An inquiry into the whatness, howness, and whyness of this primordial matter is beyond the scope of this book. I will deal with it at another time. Meanwhile, I offer these notes.

The Characterization of Capitalism

The philosophical idea of Capitalism is defective. Its darkness and emptiness are manifest everywhere in history. This fact can be understood from the following threefold characterization:

  1. Capitalism does not know how to create wealth without lordship and bondage. Slavery and servitude have been its essential tools and trademarks since ancient times.
  2. Capitalism separates beings artificially into masters and servants--rich and poor, lenders and borrowers.
  3. Capitalism serves by design the narcissistic desires and interests of a few classes of beings at the expense of the Being of all beings.2

The Basic Problematic of Capitalism

Most people do not know what Capitalism is really all about. They are dazzled and overwhelmed by the false and deceptive buzz, glitter, sophistry, propaganda, and pleasures of the marketplace. They do not know that Capitalist Being is indentured servitude pure and simple. It is therefore central to Capitalism to hide the problem of being and the problem of freedom--the problem of human existence3 under Capitalism.

THE BASIC PROBLEMATIC OF CAPITALISM IS THE FRAUDULENT ALLOTMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF JUSTICE AND ADVANTAGES4 --AND, THEREFORE, OF FREEDOM AND WEALTH.

The Foundations and Principles of Capitalism

What are the foundations of Capitalism? What conditions guarantee its possibility? These questions can be answered from and through an understanding of the principles of Capitalism. But what are these principles? There are four fundamental principles of Capitalism:

  1. The principle of net advantages. Darwinistic net advantages are selectively concentrated in a few classes of beings. The allotment and distribution of advantages has little to do with skills, understanding, knowledge, merit, etc., --but can be based on blood, "race-quality,"5 aristocratic breeding, class, cast, religion, ethnicity, asset-size, etc.
  2. The principle of the rule of law. The rule of law has little to do with nature, lawfulness, or justice. The law, by design, enframes6 the net advantages of lordship over bondage--of lenders over borrowers, of lessors over lessees, of landlords over tenants, of producers over consumers, of employers over employees, etc.

THE RULE OF LAW IS THE MECHANISM TO GOVERN, REGULATE, AND ENFORCE THE ALLOTMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF JUSTICE AND ADVANTAGE.

Nowhere has the rule of law been more deceitfully abused than in empire building--political and economic.

  1. The principle of the infallibility of the marketplace. Capitalist doctrine posits that the essence of freedom is freedom to buy and sell without coercion. The so-called "technique of the market place"7 is supposedly a necessary condition for freedom. But the facts of the marketplace unconceal it as a rigged "game of catallaxy"8 where beings appear to be free to buy and sell--when in truth their Being is being indentured!

INDENTURED SERVITUDE IS THE PRIMORDIAL ECONOMIC MODE OF EXISTENCE OF BEINGS IN THE CAPITALIST MARKETPLACE. INDENTURED SERVITUDE IS THE FIRST TRUTH OF FACT OF THE MARKETPLACE AND ITS ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTE. INDENTURED SERVITUDE IS DETERMINED AND REGULATED IN ADVANCE THROUGH THE ENFRAMENT OF NET ADVANTAGES IN THE LAW.

  1. The principle of usury. Usury makes currency increase; but its inner hidden intention is nothing but Being-by-bondage. Fictive money created by the "money-thought"9 of lordship is transformed into real money through entrepreneurial bondage. This explains why usury has been hated since time immemorial.10

The Priesthood of Capitalism

The concretion of dominion is possible only through a veiled priesthood--the essential infrastructure and administrative machinery of Capitalism. The priesthood performs three functions:

  1. Financial intermediation. Banks act as gatekeepers between Capital and borrowers--between lordship and bondage, between fortune and misfortune. The allotment and distribution of bank-money as loans and credit is essentially controlled through banks and trust companies for Capitalists. In modern times, banks have replaced churches as gatekeepers to fortune or misfortune--to heaven or hell.11
  2. Manipulation of beliefs. This task is performed through entertainment and by, with, or through the Media. The Media can easily be infiltrated, controlled with lines of credit and debt, and used to influence and manipulate beliefs--and to label, disapprove, or dispraise the opponents of rapacious Capitalism. An aura of authority and a prestige system12 are necessary conditions for the possibility of civilized Capitalism.
  3. Administration and control. This task is performed on behalf of Capital by government. The few possible governments are preselected and financed by Capital. In other words, the options and opportunities of the electorate--the immense majority--are limited by the narrow preselection of small groups of Capitalists, their representatives, and agents. The appearance of freedom is maintained through "free" elections.

The Overturning and Dismantling of Capitalism

The overturning and dismantling of Capitalism is possible only from and out of a genuine understanding of its archaic roots and Empirical-Utilitarian-Darwinistic grounds. The biophilosophical foundations of Capitalism and the progression of especially the Anglo-American rule of law are crudely depicted in Plate 8-1. The Plate illustrates how Darwinism provided Capitalists with fraudulent scientific legitimacy for Animalism in the marketplace. More importantly, it explains why the benefits of the Enlightenment were mostly plundered as technology and through technology by Darwinistic Capital.

The self-conceit of Capitalism was intoxicated by Darwin and his theory. Why? Because the evolution of Enlightenment could finally be shunted and stunted by the "Darwinisticism"13 of Capital. The prostitution of reason and science should explain why Darwin would remain "a sick man"14 for the last forty years of his life; why John Stuart Mill would suffer an "acute depression"15 after discovering the emptiness and futility of Utilitarian Benthamism; and why, more recently, Friedrich Hayek, a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, would be so badly misled about the "Age of Reason."16

When Empiricism debases a priori thinking, then, the possible ideal solution, which transcends all human experience, can be debased or depreciated for utilitarian benefit or profit. We may never be able to construct an ideal "circle"; but so long as our mind can think the a priori idea of the ideal "circle", we can strive to create ever more perfect circles. Hayek concluded his three-volume Law, Legislation and Liberty with the assertion "Man is not and never will be master of his fate . . . "17 Yes, Man may never master his Destiny, but Enlightenment--thinking and reasoning about what is right and good--is still the only way to improve human Destiny--and the marketplace and the justice system. Only animalism and archaic thinking--superstition, ignorance, narcissism, stupidity, greed, etc.--stand in the way of Man's progress.

Many thinkers and economists in business-sponsored think tanks and corporately-funded university research programs continue to serve the orthodoxy of their Capitalist masters18--hopefully, not at great expense to their souls and to Being.

The "dictatorship of money"19 in Western Democracies cannot endure. In The Decline of the West, Spengler wrote "[m]oney is overthrown and abolished by blood."20 This assertion would shortly be followed by World War II. Does this mean that World War III is around the corner? Not if Capitalism is surpassed. The dismantling of the British Empire--from Hong Kong to Palestine to Ireland to Qu--bec--may presage a new beginning. But what if rapacious global "dictatorship of money" replaced Empire? Then what would people do? Would they despair of their economic nothingness or would they entangle Capitalism everywhere with double runs on banks and on the justice system? Would they accept global subjection through economic bondage or would they declare World War III on the Money Trust?

Capitalism can be surpassed. The horizons of Capitalism can be opened and expanded. Heidegger argued that "[b]eing-free . . . is understanding oneself out of possibility."21 Therefore, to attain the highest wealth and the highest freedom for all, the possibilities and choices of Being must be multiplied and diversified.

Unfortunately, this is not about to happen. Without the pure will to power of all the electorate, legislation will not change radically.22-23 Net advantages will continue to be bioselectively restricted. Capitalism will remain grounded in Being-by-bondage. Access to justice and advantages--to education, equity capital, loans, science and technology, markets, protection from deception, fraud and coercion--will continue to be limited to "upperdogs."24 Hundreds of millions of indentured citizens will continue to abdicate Liberty for "television and hamburgers."25 And then what? Then, the unthinkable happens . . .


1 On the Being of beings, see Martin Heidegger (1978), The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic, translated by Michael Heim, 1984.

2 On Aristotle's characterization of philosophy and on the basic question of man, see Heidegger, ibid., at 9-14 and 15-18.

3 On the problem of human existence, see Heidegger, ibid., at 18-21.

4 The notion of justice as the "supreme representative of life itself" is due to Nietzsche. The essence of justice as "advantage . . . allotted to someone in a distribution, before the actual dividing takes place" is Heidegger's interpretation of Nietzsche's insight. See Martin Heidegger, Nietzsche, Vol. III: The Will to Power as Knowledge and as Metaphysics, translated by Joan Stambaugh, David Farrell Krell, Frank A. Capuzzi, edited, with Notes and Analysis, by David Farrell Krell, at 137-149 (Truth as Justice), especially 145 and 148.

5 On "race-quality" and on "the conflict between money and blood," see Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, An Abridged Edition by Helmut Werner, with a new Introduction by H. Stuart Hughes, 1991, at 409-415, especially 414; the English Abridged Edition was prepared by Arthur Helps, from the translation by Charles Francis Atkinson.

6 The concept of "Enframing" is Heidegger's invention. See Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, translated and with an Introduction by William Lovitt, 1977, at 19.

7 On "the technique of the marketplace," see Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, with the assistance of Rose D. Friedman, 1962 and 1982, at 13.

8 Hayek's expression; see Friedrich A. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol. 2, 1976, at 107-132 (The Market Order or Catallaxy).

9 Spengler's expression; see Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, An Abridged Edition by Helmut Werner, with a new Introduction by H. Stuart Hughes, 1991, at 413.

10 Usury has been condemned partially in the Old Testament and absolutely in the New Testament and in the Koran. See, for example, Leviticus 25:36-37, St. Mark 11:15-18, and The Cow 2:275.

11 For insight into how priesthood has historically acted as gatekeeper to heaven or hell and how it has manipulated beliefs, see Thomas Hobbes, Behemoth, edited by Ferdinand T--nnies, with an Introduction by Stephen Holmes, 1990. See especially Holmes' Introduction at xliii-xliv (Gatekeeper-Priests) and xxxix ("psychological manipulation" of beliefs). For a discussion of Capitalism as Religion of Money, see my World War III Against the Money Trust? (Book I, Chapter 20).

12 On "social control through prestige," "prestige allocation,", "subversion," and "the problems of justice," see William J. Goode, The Celebration of Heroes: Prestige as a Social Control System, 1978.

13 On Darwinisticism, see Morse Peckham, Darwinism and Darwinisticism, in Darwin, 2nd ed., edited by Philip Appleman, 1970, 1979, at 297-304. (Victorian Studies, III, 1959).

14 According to Peter Medawar, the Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine in 1960, Darwin was "a sick man" for the last 40 years of his life. See Peter B. Medawar, The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice, 1996, at 52-58.

15 See John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited with an Introduction, by Alan Ryan, 1987, at 34-36 (Mill's Education--And His Disillusionment With 'Benthamism').

16 See Friedrich A. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol. 2, 1976, at 175-176 (The Tables Turned).

17 Ibid., at 176.

18 Mill wrote: " . . . in the English Universities no thought can find place, except that which reconcile itself with orthodoxy." See John Stuart Mill (October 1852), Whewell on Moral Philosophy, ibid., at 228-229.

19 Spengler's expression; see Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, An Abridged Edition by Helmut Werner, with a new Introduction by H. Stuart Hughes, 1991, at 414.

20 Ibid., at 414.

21 See Martin Heidegger (1978), The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic, translated by Michael Heim, 1984, at 158.

22 Hegel held that "[t]he law is . . . grounded not in the will of a particular individual, but is valid in and for itself; it is the absolute pure will of all which has the form of immediate being" [italics in the original]. See G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), translated by A.V. Miller, with Analysis of the Text and Foreword by J.N. Findlay, 1977, at 256-262 (Reason as Testing Laws), especially 260.

23 "The Will to Power" is Nietzsche's "Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values." See Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, translated by Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale, edited with Commentary by Walter Kaufmann, 1967, at 3.

24 The inspiration for the expression "upperdogs" is the title of an article by D.R. Songer and R.S. Sheehan, Who Wins on Appeal? Upperdogs and Underdogs in the United States Courts of Appeals, Journal of Political Science, 36, 1992, at 239 and 243-246 (U.S. Court of Appeals decisions, 1986).

25 In Brave New World Revisited, Huxley wrote about human "dodos" as follows: "The cry of 'Give me television and hamburgers; but don't bother me with the responsibilities of liberty', may give place, under altered circumstances, to the cry of 'Give me Liberty or give me death'" [my emphasis]. See Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, with an Introduction by David Bradshaw, 1958 and 1994, at 177.

  

 

BIOPHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CAPITALISM
PROGRESSION OF THE RULE OF LAW

 

 

Plate 8-1

  

   
Plate 8-1    The Biophilosophical Foundations of Capitalism: Progression of the Rule of Law

The conceptual progression of the rule of law is illustrated schematically--from Animalism to the Overturning of Capitalism. The emphasis is on Anglo-American Capitalism and law. The dismantling of Capitalism consists essentially in shifting net advantages--from a few selective classes of beings (Big Capitalists, Big Banks, Big Business, and Big Government) to the Being of all beings. The Overturning is nothing but a massive struggle of Enlightenment and Reason against the darkness of Capitalist Darwinisticism.

[Copyright -- 1998 by MACROKNOW INC. All rights reserved.]

  

 











 

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