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Why Marx thought aesthetics were important and why you should, too:
A thread
A thread
Content/Form Dialectics: Content is what we sense and form is how our brain arranges sense data. Marx rejected empiricism because empiricism rejected form, opening windows to idealism. And specifically empiricist economics ignored form of labor (wage system under capitalism).
Content/Form can perhaps best be understood through art study.
Content is the medium in art (painting, sculpture, etc), while form is the "meaning" (a bird, an abstract painting, etc)
Empiricists in Marx's day rejected form, seeing it as a useless side effect of consciousness.
Content is the medium in art (painting, sculpture, etc), while form is the "meaning" (a bird, an abstract painting, etc)
Empiricists in Marx's day rejected form, seeing it as a useless side effect of consciousness.
This opened the door for idealists such as Hume to make valid observations that the way our minds process sense data (essentially: aesthetics) really is important, undermining the most popular pre-Marxian format of materialism (Empiricism). Which made Marx real mad.
Marx knew that synthesized version of materialism would have to incorporate Form/aesthetics.
And this became vital in Marx's analysis of capitalism.
Marx believed the Form of political economies shaped society in important ways:
And this became vital in Marx's analysis of capitalism.
Marx believed the Form of political economies shaped society in important ways:
The wage Form of Labor completely changed society from feudalism, even though the Labor Content (plowing a field, making a pair of shoes) didn't really fundamentally change.
Important to remember that content DEFINES form...
Important to remember that content DEFINES form...
If all you have is wood, you will have a wooden chair. If you have paint for content, your art's form will be a painting of some kind.
In this sense content also shapes society. The industrial revolution changed content of labor, which also changed the form of labor.
In this sense content also shapes society. The industrial revolution changed content of labor, which also changed the form of labor.
But both content and form of the things and systems around us affect human minds and bodies in important ways.
Understanding this was a massive leap forward for Marx and fundamentally shaped his analysis of capital.
Understanding this was a massive leap forward for Marx and fundamentally shaped his analysis of capital.
This Tweet thread is based on a ton of reading and discussion @LunaOi_VN and I had last night comparing and synthesizing Vietnamese and English texts prepping for her video this week, so if you wanna learn more when it comes out subscribe to her channel: http://YouTube.com/lunaoi
