Total posts: 12,563
"There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits."
- Karl Marx
Created:
Das Kapital by Karl Marx is one of the foundational texts in economics and political theory.
Here are a few notable quotes from this influential work:
"Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, the torment of labour, slavery, ignorance, brutalization, and moral degradation at the opposite pole."
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it."
This famous quote emphasizes the importance of action and revolution to improve society, rather than mere contemplation.
"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people."
Marx argues that capitalism's focus on producing goods often leads to unemployment and underemployment, as the pursuit of efficiency and profit can render many workers redundant.
"Religion is the opium of the people."
This quote criticizes religion for providing false comfort and hindering social progress by encouraging passivity and acceptance of suffering.
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles."
This quote, as mentioned earlier, highlights Marx's core belief that social conflict is driven by the struggle between the bourgeoisie (the ruling class) and the proletariat (the working class).
"Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks."
This quote emphasizes Marx's view that capitalists exploit workers by extracting surplus value from their labor.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
This principle, often associated with communism, describes a just and equitable distribution of resources in a socialist society.
"The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself. He feels at home when he is not working, and when he is working he does not feel at home."
"The means of production must be monopolised by the capitalist. Only by thus excluding the workers from ownership of the means of production can the capitalist give himself a commanding position at the bargaining table."
"The advance of capitalist production develops a working class which by education, tradition, and habit looks upon the conditions of that mode of production as self-evident laws of nature."
"The circulation of commodities is the original precondition of the circulation of money."
This quote highlights the fundamental relationship between commodities and money in a capitalist economy. It underscores that money arises from the exchange of goods and services.
"The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range."
Explanation: Marx points out the paradox of workers producing wealth while their own living conditions worsen. This is due to the capitalist's appropriation of the surplus value created by the workers.
"Capital is not a thing, but a social relation between persons, established by the instrumentality of things."
Explanation: Here, Marx emphasizes that capital should not be seen merely as physical objects (like machinery or money) but as a relationship of power and control between people, mediated through these objects.
"All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned."
Explanation: This quote captures the dynamic and disruptive nature of capitalism, which constantly revolutionizes production and social relations, eroding traditional values and structures.
"The constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones."
This quote highlights Marx's observation that capitalism is inherently dynamic and constantly in flux, leading to social instability and rapid change.
"The history of industry and commerce is at the same time the history of the constant revolt of industrial production against its own conditions."
This quote acknowledges the inherent contradictions within capitalism, where the very forces of production tend to undermine the existing system.
"The capitalist mode of production rests on the exploitation of labour-power."
This succinctly states the core of Marx's critique of capitalism, arguing that it relies on the extraction of surplus value from the labor of the working class.
"The development of modern industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which it rests."
This quote highlights how the very forces of production within capitalism – technological advancements, increased productivity – ultimately undermine the system itself.
"The more productive capital grows, the more it produces relative surplus-value, i.e., the greater is the mass of unpaid labour it extracts, the greater is the mass of labour it sets in motion, the more does it develop the productive powers of labour, the more does it create the material conditions for an explosive combination of revolutionary forces."
This quote points towards the inherent instability of capitalism, where increased productivity can lead to overproduction, crises, and ultimately, revolutionary potential.
"The capitalist mode of production produces not only commodities, but also the conditions under which these commodities can be converted into capital. The production of surplus-value itself creates the tendency towards capitalist accumulation."
This quote emphasizes the cyclical nature of capitalism, where the very act of generating profit drives further capital accumulation, leading to ever-increasing production and a relentless pursuit of profit.
Das Kapital, a monumental work by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of the capitalist system. Here's a summary:
Core Argument:
• Exploitation of Labor: Marx argues that capitalism is fundamentally based on the exploitation of labor. Workers produce goods and services, but the capitalists, who own the means of production (factories, land, etc.), extract surplus value from their labor. This surplus value is the source of capitalist profit.
• Commodification of Everything: Capitalism transforms everything, including labor, land, and even human relationships, into commodities to be bought and sold in the market.
• Inherent Contradictions: Marx believed that capitalism contains inherent contradictions that will ultimately lead to its downfall. These contradictions include:
• Overproduction: Capitalism constantly strives for increased production, but this can lead to overproduction and economic crises.
• Growing Inequality: The gap between the rich and the poor widens under capitalism, leading to social and economic instability.
• Alienation of Labor: Workers become alienated from their labor under capitalism, finding no joy or fulfillment in their work.
Key Concepts:
• Surplus Value: The difference between the value of a worker's labor and the wages they receive.
• Commodification: The process of turning everything into a commodity that can be bought and sold.
• Alienation: The separation of workers from the products of their labor, the process of labor itself, and their own humanity.
Overall:
Das Kapital provides a scathing critique of capitalism, exposing its exploitative nature and predicting its eventual demise. It remains a highly influential work in sociology, economics, and political theory, and continues to be debated and analyzed today.
Disclaimer: This is a simplified summary. Das Kapital is a complex and dense work, and this overview cannot fully capture its depth and nuance.
Let's delve deeper into the core arguments of Karl Marx's "Das Kapital."
1. Exploitation of Labor:
• Surplus Value: This is the cornerstone of Marx's critique. Workers create value through their labor. However, capitalists, who own the means of production (factories, land, machinery), only pay workers a portion of the value they generate. This "surplus value," the difference between the value created by labor and the wages paid, is the source of capitalist profit.
• Example: Imagine a worker who produces shoes. The value of the shoes is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time required to produce them. If the worker produces shoes worth $100, but is only paid $50, the capitalist extracts $50 of surplus value. This surplus value is then used for capitalist accumulation – expanding production, investing in new technologies, and increasing personal wealth.
• Labor Power as a Commodity: Marx argues that labor power itself becomes a commodity bought and sold in the capitalist market. Workers "sell" their ability to work to capitalists for a wage. However, this wage is typically set below the true value of the labor they contribute.
2. Commodification of Everything:
• Beyond Goods: Capitalism doesn't just commodify goods; it commodifies everything. Land, labor, even human relationships become subject to market forces.
• Alienation: This commodification leads to the alienation of human beings.
• Alienation from the product of labor: Workers have no control over the products they produce, which are owned by the capitalist.
• Alienation from the process of labor: Work becomes monotonous and repetitive, devoid of any intrinsic meaning or creativity. Workers are treated as mere appendages to the machine.
• Alienation from other workers: Competition among workers for jobs and wages fosters a sense of isolation and individualism.
• Alienation from oneself: Workers become estranged from their own human potential, reduced to mere instruments of production.
3. Inherent Contradictions of Capitalism:
• Overproduction: The drive for profit compels capitalists to constantly increase production. However, this can lead to overproduction, where the market becomes saturated with goods, leading to falling prices, declining profits, and ultimately, economic crises (recessions, depressions).
• Growing Inequality: The accumulation of wealth by capitalists leads to a widening gap between the rich and the poor. This extreme inequality creates social and economic instability, fueling social unrest and potentially revolutionary movements.
• Technological Advancements: While technology increases productivity, it also displaces workers, leading to unemployment and further exacerbating social inequalities.
• The Falling Rate of Profit: As technology advances and capital accumulates, the rate of profit tends to decline. This is because a larger portion of capital is invested in machinery, while the proportion invested in labor (the source of surplus value) decreases.
4. The Tendency Towards Crisis:
Marx argued that these internal contradictions would inevitably lead to crises within the capitalist system. These crises, characterized by overproduction, unemployment, and social unrest, would ultimately undermine the stability of the system and pave the way for a new, more just, and equitable social order.
Created:
Posted in:
The great power of a totalitarian is that he forces those who fear him to copy him.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@sadolite
I don't think he is guilty of anything
So he is a very innocent man.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
She meant sexual deviant.
I am sorry for that too.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
In a macro-evolutionary sense where only the fittest survive, we tend to designate as evil the things that do not survive.
Thats a false theory too, since same things survive differently in different environments. Also, every person eventually dies, so the theory doesnt work in any sense.
Created:
Posted in:
Amber
Deviants (Best.Korea).
I am sorry, I guess.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
They burned the kids down all around themselves.
Still, the belief in karma is a self-contradicting nonsense, even if this isnt meant as a religion topic.
Bad things happening to good people disproves karma, as well as good things happening to bad people.
Even if some were "guilty", I find it hard to believe that all those harmed by fires are somehow deserving it.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
The public perception now is that the Justice System either can't or won't hold powerful people accountable
If they let him go, they are corrupt, and if they sentence him to prison, they are politically motivated.
I guess nothing pleases the American public opinion.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
I really did wish he sentenced Trump to jail
I guess US government doesnt believe in the great purge. (великая чистка).
Still, its amazing how many people thought and still think that Trump is "a very innocent man".
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
Then evil is inevitable, since trees just let it happen.
Not sure how is that a good reason to burn down trees.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
When good trees do nothing, evil thrives.
Trees dont have eyes and are unable to move.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
Not sure why karma burns down innocent trees. I guess glitch in the karma matrix.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Sidewalker
Trump has ability to dodge bullets. He probably can even dodge space lasers. He is obviously the chosen one.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
I don't celebrate the destruction of evil people.
We need evil people. We invented them so the world isnt boring.
Almost every movie has evil people. If evil people were undesirable, they wouldnt be in almost every movie.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Mall
This is really a must watch!
I have to say, so much debating on debate art really made you into a great live debater!
"Freedom is needed to bring you to the goal."
- "Unless my goal is to have no freedom."
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
It’s going to take more than just fake pictures.
Ok. I will start spreading the rumor that my dick is big.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@FLRW
We are going to accomplish our great mission! Women will return to the site!
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
How do you reach your goals if you keep switching them?
You can achieve one goal in one day, the opposite goal the other day. I spent years defending Christianity and praying to Jesus, yet I am a Satanist and Taoist now. I can be anything, because I set my goals. I dont let society install their programmed goals into my brain. I can see the matrix, and the matrix is such that one person isnt made from goals, but person creates goals for himself. The society wants you to believe that you are nothing but your goals. Its like convincing a programmer that he is a program.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
where you have two or more separate personalities that control your behavior at different times.
Its called changing goals to opposite ones. Anyone can do it. Its easy. Its just that most people choose to stick to goals they have. They cant defy their programming.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
Your split personality shows even in determining the cause for laughter. Which to you springs from despair.
I have many personalities. Not sure why other people are limited to just one.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
Hope is the cause for laughter.
Hope is born of despair.
Created:
Posted in:
I like "The Alchemist".
I have to say, I thought the book will be trash, but damn, the book definitely succeeds in telling the true meaning of life. So simple: to follow your dreams, yet written in detail and explained why any different roads lead to meaningless life.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Moozer325
In the "Art of Nonfiction", Ayn Rand explains how she writes and what is the correct writing style.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
Just like schizophrenia. Which happens to be treatable.
Lol
Created:
-->
@Greyparrot
Don't underestimate the troll.
I guess one has to appreciate the moment when troll becomes president for the second time. It kinda tells you that with proper trolling, you can achieve almost anything.
Trolling is a science which is good to invest in, I guess.
Created:
Posted in:
If anyone has some anime similar to World Conquest Zvezda Plot, I am interested.
Even tho I have been trying to find similar anime for years, but I cant find any which have similar comedy, competition and story.
Even the other anime produced by A-1 studio arent even close. Well, I havent watched all anime from A-1, but the few I have watched didnt seem to be on the same level.
Created:
-->
@Greyparrot
Trump is clearly trolling the CIA, because the CIA doesn't like it when presidents say out loud what they do in secret.
CIA is trying to start war in Greenland?
Created:
-->
@Lemming
But don't people also have principles and values? Loyalty?
None that I know of.
People in North Korea have enough loyalty to the leader to be able to go through decades of starvation.
However, people of Greenland might prefer to have money than to have land. A poor trade, but its good in short term.
Created:
-->
@Lemming
give every Greenlander a million dollars to join America
Yes, that would probably work. People like money.
Created:
-->
@Lemming
If Greenland was 'agreeable to joining the USA, or agreeable to the USA 'purchasing Greenland.The downsides are not immediately obvious to me.
There are no downsides for USA. There are only downsides for Greenland.
However, my objection was merely to use of military force.
If Greenland people are stupid enough to want to be part of USA, let them.
I always encourage stupid people to act on their stupidity, so that smart people can use it as a learning example.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Sidewalker
Try to become more yourself.
Like Tao, I hold many forms.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Sidewalker
My favorite description of Tao is that it is like an infinite empty container which can be filled with anything and can hold anything without destroying itself or it.
It is an example of adjusting to anything.
Created:
-->
@IlDiavolo
Remember that Hitler did all what he did because most of the Germans supported him.
There were plenty of crazy leaders in history. Many had support of the people. Simply, given enough time, Hitler finds a way to win the heart of any masses and make them follow him into wars and world conquest.
It doesnt happen suddenly, of course. Americans were historically stupid enough to fight wars all over the world because some politician convinced them that its the right thing to do.
With control of education and media, youth of any country can be corrupted for future wars.
"He who controls the youth controls the future"
Hitler pretty much described all his strategies for controlling masses, and yet people are unable to understand that those same strategies are being used on them constantly in almost exactly same way.
It really shows that even with all information available about indoctrination, people still arent able to know when they are indoctrinated because they firmly believe their thoughts are their own.
What really happens is that thoughts are formed through propaganda. We see in all countries in many cases that opinion of new generations is built on the opinion of the old generations. That is the power of indoctrination in tradition, which is how traditions survive.
However, government indoctrination is much more powerful because it is built by individuals who invest a lot in understanding how to get others to do their will which goes way above mere repetitive tradition.
They employ scientific methods to understand what average person thinks and how average person forms an opinion, and how to change opinion of the average person.
In the most simple terms, the constant attempts to start wars and create support for war eventually result in success, especially during crisis.
Created:
-->
@Shila
There is only one Hitler, thank God.
There is only one Hitler called "Hitler".
Created:
-->
@Shila
That is one thing you never blamed it on your parents.
Being a virgin isnt that bad, I guess.
Created:
-->
@Shila
Americans spell potato differently.
Well, it would be weird if every Hitler was called Hitler. There would be no surprise.
Created:
-->
@Shila
You had a sex change to have less sex. Thats crazy.
I never had sex, so I cant have less sex.
Created:
-->
@Greyparrot
Lol, did Trump troll you again?
Crazy dictators do use trolling and jokes often.
Created:
-->
@Shila
Trump isn't a Catholic. He used to be Presbyterian. But, while in office Trump said he considered himself to be a non-denominational Christian.
Potato, potato.
Created:
-->
@Mall
Of course it removes the function of sex. I agree. Many won't even admit that. I credit you comrade.
Thanks.
Created:
-->
@Shila
Hitler was born a Catholic.
So was Trump.
Created:
-->
@Shila
He meant is spiritually.
I guess, but I didnt believe in spirits before, especially not Hitler spirits.
Created:
-->
@cristo71
Not everyone can be Japanese
Things arent black and white. Some things are yellow. But not all yellow is same. China and Japan - not same yellow.
Created:
-->
@cristo71
@Shila
Judging by leaders of the world right now, we could be in the "Hitler kills Hitler" position.
"Hitler kills Hitler" position is a position where two or more Hitlers become leaders of different countries. Since any one Hitler cannot accept the rule of another Hitler, they eventually go to war until one Hitler kills the other Hitler. Then the Hitler who survives is celebrated as a hero because he killed Hitler.
Created:
-->
@cristo71
Again, you need to warn immigrants to the US about your observations here.
Thats only if they are of incorrect color, religion or opinion.
Created:
-->
@cristo71
That’s a big difference in belief from Trump.
Yes. Hitler didnt believe Poland had borders, while Trump doesnt believe Greenland has borders. Big difference!
Created:
-->
@cristo71
You should warn immigrants about this at the border.
Hitler didnt believe in borders.
Created: