1. Societal selection and historical materialism
- Author
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Lattanzi-Silveus, Luke and Leopold, David
- Subjects
Philosophy, Marxist ,Socialism ,Social sciences and history - Abstract
This DPhil thesis is an attempt to provide a detailed account of Marx's theory of history which relies on a quasi-Darwinian mechanism. Building on the debate around G.A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence, I argue that a selective mechanism between societies can underpin some of the key theses of historical materialism. In societal selection, the view I propose, greater development of the forces of production leads to a competitive advantage for those wielding these forces. Therefore, societies which adopt more developed forces of production ̶ or relations of production which foster the development of the forces of production -̶ will tend to be those that succeed, expand and impose their practices on others, at the expense of societies with less developed forces. This, in a manner similar to natural selection, creates a broad tendency for forces of production to develop and for relations which enable further development of these forces to emerge. This thesis will not just be and account of this process, which has already been presented in a more limited form by others; it will also attempt to detail the mechanisms underlying this process in order to tease out what a historical materialism that is based on societal selection would look like. How do forces of production translate into advantage in (generally military) competition? What is the role of imitation and human intention in the theory? How do the mechanisms of historical materialism play themselves out? What account does this theory have of class struggle and human agency? What kinds of predictions would this theory yield? Answering these questions will not only provide a more complete view of historical materialism but also address the critiques levied against this selectionist view. The goal of this thesis is to propose a detailed theory which can provide a compelling account of human history.
- Published
- 2022