Home » Discussion Forum

Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Discussion Forum (Archived)

Please consider registering
Guest
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Min search length: 3 characters / Max search length: 84 characters
The forums are currently locked and only available for read only access
sp_TopicIcon
Mutually excusive
Robert
553 Posts
(Offline)
1
2014/07/14 - 1:56pm

Page 371 of Arthur Herman's brand new scholarly book:

Aristotle had been right all along. Freedom and slavery were indeed mutually excusive states.

But it can actually make sense: the freedom to take whatever job you take justifies the abuses that come afterwards; and then this can be so bad that it excuses the evils of the freedom that was the source of the problem in the first place; so you take another chance with freedom, and the cycle starts all over again.

Only probably not what Mr. Herman had in mind.  Still leaves Aristotle.

deaconB
744 Posts
(Offline)
2
2014/07/15 - 4:20am

If you take a job,  that's not freedom. The only significant difference between slavery and wage-slavery is that if a wage-slave is injured, ill, or there's a lag in business, he can be readily jettisoned.   If you spent a minor fortune to buy a slave, failing to provide for slaves in times like that is stupid.

Both wage-slaves and traditional slaves are abused in myriad ways. Freedom is self=employment.

In 1950, you might need 3000 machine tools to economically make a complex product, because setup was difficult and expensive.  With numerical-controlled tools, you can make complex products in a garage, and economically make one=off products.  As tools get better and better, and raw materials get more expensive, we'll see more and more highly competitive proprietors and small partnerships employing only family members.

We'll probably still have huge factories making commodities, where dullards can get jobs, but others will pity them.

Forum Timezone: America/Los_Angeles
Show Stats
Administrators:
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Moderators:
Grant Barrett
Top Posters:
Newest Members:
Mike Brock
Forum Stats:
Groups: 1
Forums: 1
Topics: 3647
Posts: 18912

 

Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 618
Members: 1266
Moderators: 1
Admins: 2
Most Users Ever Online: 1147
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 32
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)