Dark Age Marxism

Ian Wright

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Philosophie

Adventures in Marxist Theory https://ianwrightsite.wordpress.com/

9. Mai

On Hegel’s ‘altogether new concept of scientific procedure’

A talk on Hegel's methodological approach in the Science of Logic; and why "the one true method" of metaphysics must be identical with its content.30 mins talk. 1 hour discussion.

1 Std. 22 Min.
26. Feb.

Hegel vs logic

A talk about formal logic and Hegel's critique of it. We begin with Aristotle's syllogistic and its dominance throughout the medieval period; then discuss the transition to modern logic in the late 19th century, specifically Frege's development of predicate logic, which is now canonical. The transition was not just a technical improvement but a fundamental shift in how we understand the nature of logical categories -- a shift from a logic of internal relations to one of external relations, and the introduction of a sharp distinction between syntax and semantics. The modern era is marked by the proliferation of different logics, some adopting incompatible logical principles. Modern logic hasn't realized Leibniz's dream of a universal calculus of reasoning, but instead has given us a forest of logics, each with its own domain of application and its own rules.So logical pluralism challenges the idea of a single, universal logic. Drawing on Hegel, modern logical pluralism implies no special logic can claim foundational significance, fully justify its own normative force, or even be said to be truly logical. Our modern logic is technically sophisticated but perhaps we've become lost in the forest. Hegel's vision of a universal logic -- one that explains the conditions for the possibility of any form of reasoning -- points a way out.

1 Std. 23 Min.
28.12.2025

Marx and the phases of capitalist development (special guest: Nikolaos Chatzarakis)

Guest speaker Nikolaos Chatzarakis, Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research, joins the Oxford Communist Correspondence Society to explore the structural evolution of capitalism. Nikos examines the dynamic relationship between the "Law of Accumulation" and the "Falling Rate of Profit," arguing that these economic forces are the primary engines behind the major shifts in global history. Key topics discussed: - The Mechanics of Profit: How the rising "organic composition of capital" creates an inherent downward pressure on profitability. - Long Cycles of Development: From the age of steam and railways to the emergence of digital networks and Artificial Intelligence.- Formal vs. Real Subsumption: How capital takes control of the labor process to squeeze out higher levels of productivity. - Modern Crises: A look at how current trends - including the gig economy, "techno-feudalism," and the 2008 financial crisis - fit into Marx’s long-term predictions. 40 mins talk followed by ~1 hour of discussion.

1 Std. 28 Min.
31.10.2025

Is value in the eye of the beholder? Subjectivism in the theory of economic value.

We dive into the centuries-old controversy of economic value: is it determined by the objective difficulty of bringing goods to market or by the subjective preferences of consumers? The discussion frames this conflict using Adam Smith’s famous water-diamond paradox. We explore the 1870s marginal revolution, where economists like Menger, Jevons, and Walras developed subjective theories based on the principle of diminishing marginal utility. This analytical method also served an ideological purpose, directly undermining socialist critiques by denying any objective anchor for value. The talk explains how modern neoclassicism attempts to reconcile objective and subjective factors, but due to its obsession with equilibrium, exhibits value nihilism - the assertion that economic value does not really exist. Economics remains "half a science" due to its inability to analyze dynamics and movement over time.

1 Std. 25 Min.
19.09.2025

The God We Don't Believe In: magic, science, and social transformation

A wide-ranging conversation among participants in the econophysics Discord server, featuring Ian Wright, Alex Creiner and Leone. The discussion primarily centers on Wright's provocative idea of "capital as a real god," a concept suggesting that capital functions as an emergent control system with its own primitive intentionality, goals, and representations, quasi-independent of human will. The participants also explore the concept of "occult magic" in politics and economics, likening it to a reality-driven fantasy where narratives obscure underlying mechanisms, and real possibilities for change. Further topics include the role of dialectical thinking in science, the challenges of socialist planning, and modernization of Marxist value theory.The conversation is animated by the desire to understand and transform social structures through both scientific rigor and conscious collective action. Econophysics Discord server: https://discord.gg/9jZYkRYYWAIan Wright: https://ianwrightsite.wordpress.com/Leone: https://www.indep.network/Alex Creiner: https://www.youtube.com/@TexTalksSometimes https://alexcreiner.com/docs/about/

1 Std. 53 Min.
23.06.2025

Dark Eucharist of the Real God

“A god abides with us still. And if we wish to see its face we need merely reach into our own pockets.” Sequel to “Marx on Capital as a Real God” that expands on Marx’s comparison of money with Christ. I discuss Christ’s real presence, demon summoning, our collective dark enchantment, and how capitalism reproduces a great sacrificial exchange between a people and its god.

55 Min.
23.06.2025

Marx on Capital as a Real God

“The essence of money is … the mediating activity or movement, the human, social act by which man’s products mutually complement one another, is estranged from man and becomes the attribute of money, a material thing outside man. Since man alienates this mediating activity itself, he is active here only as a man who has lost himself and is dehumanized; the relation itself between things, man’s operation with them, becomes the operation of an entity outside man and above man. Owing to this alien mediator – instead of man himself being the mediator for man – man regards his will, his activity and his relation to other men as a power independent of him and them. His slavery, therefore, reaches its peak. It is clear that this mediator now becomes a real God, for the mediator is the real power over what it mediates to me. Its cult becomes an end in itself.” K. Marx, Comments on James Mill, 1844. The question I address is whether Marx’s “real God” is metaphor or science. Talk presented at the Communist University 2020, organised by the CPGB (UK).

1 Std.
23.06.2025

Transcendental undecidability, and the identity of thought and being

This talk examines the significance of the theory of computation for the perennial philosophical problem of the identity of thought and being. I give an accessible overview of the history and main results of computability theory, and then discuss the Church-Turing thesis and its generalizations. I then consider our epistemic states in possible worlds where we are, or are not, computationally equivalent to nature, and therefore under what circumstances we might break through the Turing barrier. The main argument is that deciding our computational equivalence to nature is transcendentally undecidable, and therefore will we never halt on this decision problem. In consequence, the identity of thought and being is a purely “scholastic matter” (Marx’s 2nd thesis on Feuerbach) and we have no rational reason to suppose that any persistent unintelligibility in nature cannot, one day, yield its secrets. We cannot know we know; and we cannot know we cannot know. First 43 mins: main talk. 43 mins to 1 hour 17 mins: discussion by participants. Last 16 mins: my response.

1 Std. 34 Min.

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Dark Age Marxism