Welcome to Litsy!

Another from the Massey Lecture series. Steiner‘s premise is that western civilization continues to look for certainties - in Marxism, in Freud, in astrology and the anthropology of Levi-Strauss - to fill the gap left behind by the decline of the Christian religion. He further posits that the search for ultimate scientific truth (for ex. that one day the earth will cease to exist) is something we cannot grasp which is why we turn elsewhere. Con‘t

“The cults of unreason, the organized hysterias, the obscurantism which have become so important a feature of Western sensibility and behaviour during these last decades, are comical and often trivial to a degree; but they represent a failure of maturity, a self-demeaning, which are, in essence, tragic.”

As relevant today as it was in 1974.

“. . . The capitalist who employs improved but not yet universally used methods of production sells below the market price, but above his individual price of production; his profit rate thus rises, until competition cancels this out; in the course of this period of adjustment, the second requirement is fulfilled, i.e. growth in the capital laid out . . .”

After lab work🩸💉and a stop at Petsmart 🐈‍⬛, it‘s time for a sandwich, Coke, and Marx.

Lizzie Burns was the longtime lover of Frederick Engels. An illiterate Irishwoman, little is know of her, but here McCrea brings her to life. This was a little hard to get into and the language is difficult, just because it‘s quite different from modern American English, but once I got settled in, I really enjoyed it. She‘s a great character and there‘s some good sly humor in this book, though it‘s not as light as the cover suggests.

“The capitalist himself does not know in most cases how much variable capital he employs in his business. We have already seen . . ., and we shall now see further, that the only distinction within his capital that impresses itself on the capitalist as fundamental is the distinction between fixed and circulating capital.”

“We see here again how a variation in constant capital has the same effect on the rate of profit, irrespective of whether this variation is brought about by an increase or decrease in the material components of c, or simply by a change in their value.”

Enjoying an egg and cheese sandwich and a “shakerato” (espresso and sugar shaken over ice) with some Marx before running errands. Officially enough of a regular at this cafe that the owner knows my name ☕️ 📖

After a long break, finally picking up Marx again. Enjoying a picnic in a local park with the best flowers. Having an egg and cheese sandwich on a cheddar chive biscuit and a rose white mocha. One of the park workers gave me a flower crown!

“The overall result of our investigation, so far as the question at hand is concerned, is again that it is only the Marxian school that has achieved anything. Fireman and Conrad Schmidt, if they read this third volume, may each be well satisfied with his own work.”