From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Jul 05 2004 - 14:59:56 BST
Hi Anthony,
Your "MOQ Perception of Capitalism" lacks footnotes referring to Pirsig's
writings. In contrast, your "MOQ Perception of Socialism" contains three
direct Pirsig quotes.
I mention this because as I read your capitalism description, I didn't
recognize anything that Pirsig actually said. For instance, where did
Pirsig say . . .?
. . . workers are considered objects to be exploited by subject owners.
. . . capitalism produces industrial pollution.
. . . capitalism depletes Third World natural resources.
. . . capitalism exploits sweat shop labor.
. . . capitalism supports unjust regimes by arms trade.
. . . equity in the distribution of products is morally desirable
. . . material success is a "hollow goal"
. . . science dismisses "Quality of Life" issues
You and others (who you refer to) may believe these things about the
capitalistic free enterprise system, and Pirsig may believe them, too. But
in the absence supporting quotations from the man himself, I don't see how
you can legitimately present them as the "MOQ Perspective."
Do you have "inside" information from Pirsig that the rest of don't have
regarding his views of capitalism? If so, would you care to share it with
us?
Thanks,
Platt
> 7.2. THE MOQ PERCEPTION OF CAPITALISM
>
> The subjective-objective division also facilitates capitalist relations
> where workers are perceived essentially as mechanical objects (rather than
> beings of intellectual value) to be exploited by a subject i.e. the owner
> of capital.[272] As Marx correctly noted, this causes the workers to be
> alienated from each other, from the products of their labour and from the
> means of production. To use a phrase from situationism,[273] the workers
> become spectators of their own working lives. Twenty-first century
> capitalist companies may have developed more sophisticated management
> structures, but they still tend to follow the Marxist model where control
> is located in a few managers (or owners) while everyone else is instructed
> what to do, what their salary will be, what the company policy is and what
> operating structures the company will have.
>
> Further problems with capitalism include industrial pollution, the
> depletion of Third World natural resources and the exploitation of sweat
> shop labour (especially by multi-nationals). Moreover, there is the
> support of unjust regimes by the arms trade which has often led to the
> violation of human rights; a recent example being the export of fighter
> jets to Indonesia to subjugate the people of East Timor.
>
> 'The Gross National Product standard takes no account of the kind and
> quality of the goods and services produced. It does not consider whether
> the products are needed or not needed, whether they are beautiful or ugly,
> whether they are instruments of peace or implements of war. It takes no
> account of the spillover effects that are deleterious to the environment.
> It is not a measure of justice and equity in the distribution of products.
> It is not a measure of freedom or a measure of health.' (Rader & Jessup,
> 1976, p. 376)
>
> Moreover, the freedom we currently enjoy in the West is limited by the
> ideology of the capitalist economic system. As such, there is an
> irritating tendency in the West to put everything in a commercial context
> even when it’s inappropriate e.g. instead of being a student or a patient,
> I become a customer: ‘I buy therefore I am.’ Other than the hollow goal of
> material success (as a customer), there is a lack of modern guidance to
> what really entails the ‘Good Life’. SOM science, though Dynamic (in that
> its beliefs are updated), dismisses ‘Quality of Life’ issues as low
> priority while the established religions[274] offer relatively static
> advice largely based on what was beneficial a thousand years ago or
> more.[275] Some people have also turned towards New Age religions and
> philosophies in search for an answer but these are often based on
> pseudo-science and don’t specifically challenge the status quo of
> capitalism. One proposed solution to modern alienation that, at least,!
> does this is socialism but, like capitalism, is limited by SOM ideology.
> This issue is examined next in the context of the MOQ.
>
>
>
> 7.3. THE MOQ PERCEPTION OF SOCIALISM
>
> According to Pirsig, the MOQ perceives socialism as a more intellectually
> based type of economic system than capitalism:
>
> 'From a static point of view socialism is more moral than capitalism. It’s
> a higher form of evolution. It is an intellectually guided society, not
> just a society that is guided by mindless traditions. That’s what gives
> socialism its drive.' (Pirsig, 1991, p.224)
>
> On the other hand, the MOQ perceives socialism as SOM orientated as there
> is little allowance for the Dynamic in the system. As such, this can
> result in new opportunities being overlooked because there is a strict
> adherence to static rules. Moreover, a top heavy controlled system (as
> found in state socialism) will tend to be slower to react to market changes
> and be slower to introduce new improvements.
>
> What people buy and what people sell, in other words what people value, can
> never be contained by any intellectual formula. What makes the marketplace
> work is Dynamic Quality. The market is always changing and the direction
> of that change can never be predetermined. (Pirsig, 1991, p.225)
>
> Hayek (1944, p.4) also notes the danger with state socialism (with its
> emphasis on ordered central planning):
>
> 'Few are ready to recognise that the rise of Fascism and Nazism was not a
> reaction against the socialist trends of the preceding period but a
> necessary outcome of those tendencies. This is the truth which most people
> were unwilling to see even when the similarities of many of the repellent
> features of the internal regimes in communist Russia and national-socialist
> Germany were widely recognised.'
>
> I doubt that Fascism and Nazism were a necessary outcome of 1920s socialism
> but there’s certainly some truth in what Hayek asserts. If communist
> Russia was considered socialist (which is an arguable point), it did have
> more central control, less freedom of movement and less freedom of speech
> (in addition to its material shortages) than Western countries between 1945
> and 1990. The comparison between West Germany and East Germany (a Russian
> ‘satellite’ up to 1990) is probably a good illustration of the differences
> between the two cultures.
>
> 'The free market… (prevents) static economic patterns from setting in and
> stagnating economic growth. That is the reason the major capitalist
> economies of the world have done so much better since World War II than the
> major socialist economies.' (Pirsig, 1991, p.225)
>
> Finally, one aspect that the socialist countries of the Eastern bloc did
> share with the West was a poor environmental record.
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