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Written by atreestump
Over the last five threads we have looked at some key features of capitalist economic systems, including : markets; commodification and enclosure; private property; the role of the state; the profit motive; work. We have also touched on the very idea of an economic system, of a separate realm of human life called ‘the economy’. […]
Written by atreestump
How credit crunched It started with the US housing bubble, and those infamous ‘sub-prime’ mortgages. Between 1996 and 2006 US house prices went up 60% more than inflation. The great real estate fantasy: if you can get on the ladder, you can just sit and watch the price of your property soar away. Money for […]
Written by atreestump
Plato and Mysticism | Part Two In the previous thread we looked at two very ancient religious systems of Zoroastrianism and Judaism in the form of Kabballah that best show the influence on Plato’s thought. Plato was a substance dualist and so his metaphysics reveal themselves as consisting of two worlds, one is the visible […]
Written by atreestump
‘The military and the monetary get together whenever they think it’s necessary’. Pincohet and Kissenger What role(s) does the state play in the market economy? One way to start thinking about that is to look at some moments in recent history: August 1842. The governments of China and Britain sign the Treaty of Nanking after […]
Written by atreestump
Plato and Mysticism Part One Between knowledge and the Absolute there lies a boundary which completely cuts off the one from the other. If the Absolute were only to be brought on the whole nearer to us by this agency, without any change being wrought in it, like a bird caught by a limestick, it […]
Written by atreestump
Four Main Theoretical Perspectives Feminism has four main frameworks. There is a fifth, which I will include towards the end of this thread. I’m hoping to make a few threads that cover the basics, not just for others to read and discuss on the forum, but to also clarify the basic positions for myself. I […]
Written by atreestump
In 2011 China became the world’s largest producer of manufactured goods, overtaking the United States, top producer for the last 110 years. China, India, and other Asian countries are now the ‘factories of the world’, the main centres of production for most of the tangible things we buy and use, from cars to computers to […]
Written by atreestump
“The simplest answer is the one we immediately take as our own, as if we came up with it ourselves.” – Chuang Tzu How do we know if something is true? Does correct mean it has to be “true”? If it’s true, does it have to mean something? How do we know anything if […]