Engine of Economic Collapse: Human Desire

[coberst]

Engine of Economic Collapse: Human Desire

 

The Christian theologian Augustinian recognized human restlessness and constant discontent to be the source of the “historical process”. This conjecture, as a theory for man’s discontent, takes humans out of this world’s historical process. Under Christian theology the human soul has supernatural qualities; it, Christianity, takes the human species out of the animal kingdom and places wo/man between the natural and the supernatural.

 

Marx emphasizes the importance of the “economic factor” in the process of history.

 

While Freud agreed with the importance of the economic factor, he theorized that “work and economic necessity are the essence of the reality-principle…the essence of man lies not in the reality-principle but in repressed unconscious desires…no matter how bitter the struggle for bread, man does not live by bread alone,”.

 

Freud raises the question ‘Why do humans do the things they do’; in other words, what do humans desire beyond economic welfare and the mastery over nature?

 

Eros—the sum of self-preserving instincts that are manifested as impulses to gratify basic needs, as sublimated impulses, and as impulses to protect and preserve the body and mind—love.

 

Freud theorizes that beyond labor there is Eros. “And if beyond labor at the end of history there is love, love must have always been there from the beginning of history, and it must have been the hidden force supplying the energy devoted to labor and to making history…From this point of view, repressed Eros is the energy of history and labor must be seen as sublimated Eros.”

 

I think that Eros is the engine of our present economic collapse. And I think that Eros, human desire, love of self, is the steam engine of history.

 

Do you think that repressed Eros is the source of our present economic catastrophe?

 

Quotes from “Life against Death: The Psychoanalytic Meaning of History” by Norman O. Brown

[Essay]

So first I was thinking that "homeostatsis" (the desire to be comfortable happy secure etc., and what drives us to satisfy our urges) is what would be the common factor in these parameters that you suggest as linking to the current economic crisis.

 

...but then, focusing on those parameters or aspects of human nature that you mention....

What the current economic crisis has in common with our basic human nature certainly can be discussed on many different levels....

 

...and surely "Greed Is the Root of All Evil" would be an easy one to start with.

I googled that phrase. ...see:

Human Greed

Contrary to what some would have us believe, it is not the root of all evil, although insatiable greed is. That's why the Bible says, "For the LOVE (desire ...

&

Is greed really the root of all evil? | Answerbag.com

I think ignorance is the root of all evil, and greed is just one manifestation of ignorance. Social sciences > Psychology > Human behavior.

 

...but mainly:

Greed Is the Root of All Evil

"Greed Is the Root of All Evil"

This moral, preached by St. Augustine and many others after him, is found in the New Testament in Paul's first epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:10). Kino's investment of spiritual value in a pearl, an object of material wealth, may be misguided from the start. Juana and Juan Tomás both suspect that Kino is wrong to try to get more for the pearl than the dealers offer, and Juana tries several times to discard the pearl, believing it to be the source of her family's troubles. This reading interprets the pearl as a symbol of destruction and corruption rather than purity.

 

BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages.

1 Timothy 6:10 (New International Version)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

=== end google search ===

 

Personally, thinking about the current economic crisis, I am more reminded of the phrase "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions: Not Samuel Johnson!

:)

 

Speaking of the current economic crisis, I wrote this recently hoping to get active on one of the socialism/conservativism threads....

Capitalism can be great for jump starting under-developed societies, and it is wonderfully effective for promoting and enhancing the development of developing societies; but it's benefits diminish and change for developed societies, and free-market Capitalism becomes deadly for over-developed societies such as ours.

 

It is the scale or extent of capitalistic networks that enables the benefits or causes the problems.

 

For developing societies, with sufficient resources, capitalism builds a future and benefits many through the trickle-down effect.

For over-developed societies, with even a moderate hegemony of resources, capitalism consumes the future and wastes time building deadends of little value; leading first to a stagnation in the flow of wealth and the society in general, and ultimately to increasing polarization of wealth and the culture.

"It is the scale or extent of capitalistic networks that enables the benefits or causes the problems."

Now this sentence I think can be related to what you are talking about, because it is when greed gets institutionalized (by scale and extent) that real problems develop.

However, on the small scale, locally and with "transparency" (tempering with justice), greed is invigorating and beneficial; becoming a primative force harnessed by new emergent evolutionary agents, us. Thus....

I still have to admit the logic and wisdom in the Objectivist's focus on greed (as a reflection of the laws of nature), but I also still think their philosophy ignores some of the supposed benefits of living cooperatively, in a civilization.

 

Thanks, as always, for the inspiration....

~ :)