TMBS

Theory Video: Rick Roderick On Contradiction and History (Patreon)

Published:

2018-12-17 18:02:12

Imported:

2026-06

Tags:

Commodity Hegel Marx Rick Roderick

haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content

After a couple of weeks of longer readings I figured it would be nice to return to classic Rick Roderick. In this lecture, Roderick investigates the fundamental contradictions of capitalism through an explanation of the dialectical method. The anxiety that is growing in our society is a direct consequence of the commodification over every aspect of life.

Rick Roderick was an American philosopher from west Texas. His lectures produced by the The Learning Channel made continental philosophy more available for an American audience.

-David Griscom

Files

Previews only

Rick Roderick on Hegel and Modern Life [full length]

This video is 5th in the 8-part lecture series Philosophy and Human Values (1990). Thanks to rickroderick.org for making this available. I'm merely interested in redistributing to anyone who might enjoy and benefit. I. Hegel was conservative. A. The culmination of this long historical process is that history proper came to an end. B. Right wing Hegelians took Hegel to be fundamentally right and therefore applied his method over and over. C. To left wing Hegelians such as Marx Hegel's is a classic text but has an ambiguous legacy. II. Marx criticized capitalism. A. A criticism of capitalism is a criticism of Hegel because for Hegel, capitalism coupled with liberal democracy is the highest achievement of humanity. B. The democratic state is in contradiction with the imperatives of the capitalist economy. 1. We are used to these contradiction in our current society. This was not true in Marx's time. 2. The secret of capitalism is the shift in identity from what you are in a society to what you own or have. C. Marx identified several effects of capitalism. 1. It reduces human needs to those which can be bought and sold in the market place. 2. It produces from nature more technological abilities than in all of history. 3. These come into contradiction because of the imperative of the economy to make a profit and to fulfill nil these new needs. III. Marx's ideology: A. If you really want to know how someone thinks, look at their surroundings. This outlook, "materialism," criticized ideas by examining. B. Moral or philosophical clilemnas must be understood in terms of being different for different classes. C. There is a difference between a theoretical approach and an approach rooted in daily life. D. You must not let your life be reduced to poverty or work. E. Before moral problems arise, there are preconditions for human life that have to be fulfilled such as food, shelter, health care and freedom to pursue other goals besides work.