Ahmed wrote:Eclectron, you write:My feeling is that currently the economy ship has no captain.
The captain being the profit and one falls back on the ego-egoist, the self-centered man on his personal interests.
The analysis is rather well seen, although it lacks (in my eyes!) Of precision: the economy is indeed its own captain (and this, from the start!) And men its agents of function, it is inappropriate to speak of selfishness, since the individualism which is observed in our societies is a consequence of the economy and not a cause; Selfishness must prevail if we want to dissipate a maximum of energy, or if we prefer, in order to accumulate more abstract value. We are therefore dealing with determinism and not with moral alteration.
The economy has two functions, the first and its only real purpose is to accumulate more and more abstract value, the second being only a means of achieving this goal consists in satisfying needs (in the broad sense, since the great majority of "needs" are social). We can see that the part attributed to the means depends only on its effectiveness * with regard to the primary purpose, that is to say that it is very variable, between the tangible and the symbolic. This unequal duality (between finality and means) arises from a great ambiguity, which hides it from the eyes of many.
Et Janic is right to point out, even if I would not do it in its terms, that the consequences are present, that they imply, less because of the physical limitations, but of the growing difficulty of satisfying this expansion of the abstract value of sacrificing a growing part of humanity. This is not new, but what it is is that the "selection" ** now takes place within the dominant countries (instead of only concerning the peripheral countries).
* This means that, just as water takes the easiest way to reach the sea, the satisfaction of needs will be measured by the minimum capable of fulfilling the conditions of value accumulation: market exchange .
** It was the term used in Nazi extermination camps to sort out those who were going to be eliminated.
I talked about the notion of ego-selfishness which may seem vague indeed.
There is indeed in each of us a psychological center which claims to be self = ego
This center, even animals have it to a different degree from us.
An animal defends "ITS" possessions: its own life, its territory, its female (s), its offspring, its food, etc.
It is this selfish, self-centered basis that directs all action of the individual, by selection of the possible choices in order to last.
It is not a value judgment on my part it is the description of a fact.
Man has refined this selfishness and indeed individualist society allows him to better express this natural tendency, unlike tribal life where sharing was the norm.
but the selfish background was already there, just under the rug.
Regarding man, we can introduce a value judgment because man has power over his natural selfishness.
this is what we call civilization.
In short, selfishness is the basis of all of society, including the economy, and not vice versa.
Society being only the sum of selfishness (individualities)
We have the society that we are.
There is nothing to complain about except changing yourself to change society.
an element changes and everything changes. It is tiny, of course, but I do not see any other solution.