This kind of thing has done been done, of course, both specifically Marx and Whitehead, and generally Marx and _______, where the blank is your favorite philosopher or philosophical tradition (that fills in or elaborates something missing or underemphasized in Marx, according to the author). See, e.g., _Marx via process: Whitehead's potential contribution to Marxian social theory_ by Russell L. Kleinbach. Or _Dialectical phenomenology: Marx's method_ by Roslyn Wallach Bologh, or _Marx and Wittgenstein: social praxis and social explanation_ by David Rubinstein. Personally, I like some of this, not so much because I find some gap in Marx that needs to be filled, but because considering the diverse contributions of different thinkers can lead to interesting insights and perspectives.
-----Original Message----- From: Louis Proyect [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 5:33 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:32969] Re: Whitehead and Marx >http://www.fordham.edu/philosophy/processphilosophy/papers/Pomeroy.htm My claim is this: that there exists a striking similarity between a Whiteheadian ontology and the ontological presuppositions that necessarily ground Marx's claims regarding the source of capitalist surplus value and that, therefore, if one holds to a Whiteheadian process ontology, then one must simultaneously support Marx's critique of capitalism as it is presented in what has been named the Labor Theory of Value. There will be four moments to the defense of this claim. The first will consist of a characterization of economic activity in general as processive production; the second will outline and describe Whiteheadian ontology; the third will delineate the Marxian ontology hidden in the analysis of the mode of productive activity specific to capitalism; the last will consist of my conclusions. --- This is the first time I've seen somebody with leftist aspirations try to utilize Whitehead since David Harvey did it in "Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference." Why this need exists to resuscitate late 19th century metaphysics is beyond me. Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
