argeiphontes
26th September 2013, 19:46
I'm curious how people on RevLeft theorize about subjectivity...
Is the subject fully determined by material forces? If so, what forces beyond means of production are included in the determination? For example, biology, psychology and instincts. In that case, how do you explain phenomena that seem to point to an essential subject, for example the sort of Transcendental Unity of Apperception indicated by the experience (not the word) "I"?
What's the relationship between the individual and these determinants? And the implications for political and social action, if any.
Personally, my everyday operating model (er, "belief" ;) ) is that the subject is not fully determined. The subject has a complex (and active) interaction with multiple forces determining the contents of the mind, as well as behavior, yet retaining an emergent or transcendental identity that is not merely the result of these forces. Furthermore, not all of the contents (and processes) of the mind are rational, some are irrational instincts or operations of a pre- and sub-conscious.
For example, even though, e.g. exploitation, is structural, I believe that it's also individual, so it's not out of the question to blame individuals for their actions even though there may be objective reasons for them. (If the actions aren't conscious that should also be considered.) Or, more controversially maybe, I believe that although aspects of gender (and sexuality) are socially determined, they are also biologically and psychologically determined. One implication of this would be that it's important to separate social from other forces, so as to only blame social forces for whatever they're guilty of, for example.
Note that my question is different than "free will", or at least I would want to frame it that way, and this question is partly a reaction to that thread but also to seeing people's explanations of things in other threads. Feel "free" to ignore the questions above and just talk about the topic in any way you want. A little anarchy never hurt anyone. If I've been imprecise or misunderstood something, feel free to point it out, too. There might be some 'level jumping' in that the social relations of production don't operate on the same level of determination as something more fundamental like biological evolution.
Is the subject fully determined by material forces? If so, what forces beyond means of production are included in the determination? For example, biology, psychology and instincts. In that case, how do you explain phenomena that seem to point to an essential subject, for example the sort of Transcendental Unity of Apperception indicated by the experience (not the word) "I"?
What's the relationship between the individual and these determinants? And the implications for political and social action, if any.
Personally, my everyday operating model (er, "belief" ;) ) is that the subject is not fully determined. The subject has a complex (and active) interaction with multiple forces determining the contents of the mind, as well as behavior, yet retaining an emergent or transcendental identity that is not merely the result of these forces. Furthermore, not all of the contents (and processes) of the mind are rational, some are irrational instincts or operations of a pre- and sub-conscious.
For example, even though, e.g. exploitation, is structural, I believe that it's also individual, so it's not out of the question to blame individuals for their actions even though there may be objective reasons for them. (If the actions aren't conscious that should also be considered.) Or, more controversially maybe, I believe that although aspects of gender (and sexuality) are socially determined, they are also biologically and psychologically determined. One implication of this would be that it's important to separate social from other forces, so as to only blame social forces for whatever they're guilty of, for example.
Note that my question is different than "free will", or at least I would want to frame it that way, and this question is partly a reaction to that thread but also to seeing people's explanations of things in other threads. Feel "free" to ignore the questions above and just talk about the topic in any way you want. A little anarchy never hurt anyone. If I've been imprecise or misunderstood something, feel free to point it out, too. There might be some 'level jumping' in that the social relations of production don't operate on the same level of determination as something more fundamental like biological evolution.