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Jeffrey Nall, Ph.D.'s avatar

I not only share your concerns about the nature of capitalism, I also think it's so important for us to engage with political philosophy and not merely political science. Political science is, by and large, the practice of politics within a particular given system. Political philosophy, by contrast, invites us to contemplate the underlying structure and characteristics of a political-social system. In my studies I have found many valuable insights from schools of thought including those I did not fully identify with. Anarchism and the various thinkers critical of capitalism are sadly marginalized, to put it very mildly, and our political discourse.

A few works and resources that come to mine and reading your piece. The anthropologist, James Suzman does an amazing job of debunking the myth that grueling labor and a dog eat dog mentality are essential to our species: https://youtu.be/P4SDBVaUboc?si=bvUvfXrcdYq6Y3Nu

Richard Wolff's YouTube channel, democracy at work offers and invaluable counterweight to the dominant political philosophical narratives: https://youtu.be/7eRBl7quf1g?si=emf91HgDMAGgTw1a

On Karl Marx, I have learned so much from Eric Fromm's book, "Marx's concept of man." It's a book I find myself coming to again and again for new fresh insights about the humanism that has too often been left out of analysis regarding Marx. Fromm argues convincingly, in ways that I think are still applicable today, that many of Marx's adherents lost track of the elemental humanism underlying his philosophy.

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Perry J. Greenbaum 🇨🇦 🦜's avatar

I am aware of Richard Wolff and his erudite analysis. I will look up James Suzman. Thanks for the recommendation.

I am also looking at expressions more closely, particularly ones that intimate that it is non-human animals that are more cruel than the human kind. The expression "dog-eat-dog" is emblematic of the human idea of superiority and misplaced analysis. Do most dogs eat other dogs, even figuratively? No, not that I know or aware of.

How about humans under a competitive capitalist system? Quite often. Perhaps a more accurate assessment of our political economy is human-eat-human. Figuratively, of course.

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