WelcomeToTheParty
28th May 2014, 02:24
In "Their Morals and Ours", available here (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/morals/morals.htm), Trotsky claims that:
A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. From the Marxist point of view, which expresses the historical interests of the proletariat, the end is justified if it leads to increasing the power of man over nature and to the abolition of the power of man over man.How does he reach the conclusion in the part I have italicized?
Does anyone know any good literature on this point?
Edit:
In "Marx's Ethics of Freedom" (here (http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/brenkert.htm)) George Brenkert suggests that:
Marx’s approach to morality is akin to that of the Greeks for whom the nature of virtue or human excellence was the central question of morality. In contrast to the more restricted notion of moral excellence as the fulfilment of moral duty, the Greeks wanted to know what kind of life is best suited for a human being.
Which would lead to Trotsky's conclusion if it was asserted that control over nature and the lack of power over other people led to the life "best suited for a human being".
Are there any writings that make similar arguments about the form that Marxist morality takes? Or literature along the lines of Wilde's "The Soul of Man under Socialism" which argues that socialism provides the kind of life "best suited for a human being"? Preferably literature which argues specifically along Trotsky's line of reasoning that power over nature and lack of power over others is what makes socialism that best system.
A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. From the Marxist point of view, which expresses the historical interests of the proletariat, the end is justified if it leads to increasing the power of man over nature and to the abolition of the power of man over man.How does he reach the conclusion in the part I have italicized?
Does anyone know any good literature on this point?
Edit:
In "Marx's Ethics of Freedom" (here (http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/brenkert.htm)) George Brenkert suggests that:
Marx’s approach to morality is akin to that of the Greeks for whom the nature of virtue or human excellence was the central question of morality. In contrast to the more restricted notion of moral excellence as the fulfilment of moral duty, the Greeks wanted to know what kind of life is best suited for a human being.
Which would lead to Trotsky's conclusion if it was asserted that control over nature and the lack of power over other people led to the life "best suited for a human being".
Are there any writings that make similar arguments about the form that Marxist morality takes? Or literature along the lines of Wilde's "The Soul of Man under Socialism" which argues that socialism provides the kind of life "best suited for a human being"? Preferably literature which argues specifically along Trotsky's line of reasoning that power over nature and lack of power over others is what makes socialism that best system.