Throwing the Dice of History with Marx: The Plurality of Historical Worlds from Epicurus to Modern Science PDF
Preview Throwing the Dice of History with Marx: The Plurality of Historical Worlds from Epicurus to Modern Science
ThrowingtheDiceofHistorywithMarx Historical Materialism Book Series EditorialBoard LorenBalhorn(Berlin) DavidBroder(Rome) SebastianBudgen(Paris) SteveEdwards(London) JuanGrigera(London) MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam) PeterThomas(London) volume 277 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm TheLibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailableonlineathttps://catalog.loc.gov lcrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022055769 TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill‑typeface. issn1570-1522 isbn978-90-04-53355-4(hardback) isbn978-90-04-53356-1(e-book) Copyright2023byKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillnvincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillNijhoff,BrillHotei,BrillSchöningh,BrillFink, Brillmentis,Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,Böhlau,V&RunipressandWageningenAcademic. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise, withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.Requestsforre-useand/ortranslationsmustbe addressedtoKoninklijkeBrillnvviabrill.comorcopyright.com. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaperandproducedinasustainablemanner. Iwasespeciallyinclinedtolaughatthepeoplewhoquarrelledabout boundary-lines, and at those who plumed themselves on working theplainofSicyonorpossessingthedistrictofOenoeinMarathon orowningathousandacresinAcharnae.Asamatterof fact,since thewholeofGreeceasitlookedtomethenfromonhighwasnobig- gerthanfourfingers,onthatscalesurelyAtticawasinfinitesimal.I thought,therefore,howlittletherewasforourfriendstherichtobe proudof;foritseemedtomethatthewidest-acredofthemallhad butasingleEpicureanatomundercultivation. lucian,Icaromenippus(Harmon1915,p.299) ∵ Contents Introduction 1 1 TheAleatoryCurrentinPhilosophyandthePresentConjuncture 6 2 TheAncientAtomistsonNature,HumankindandHistory 65 3 EncounterswithAncientandNewWorlds 120 4 UniversalHistoryfromaMaterialistPerspective 175 5 MarxandtheThesisofthePluralityofWorlds 230 6 ‘TheRelicsofBygoneInstruments’,MarxistArchaeologyandtheThesis ofthePluralityofWorlds 302 Bibliography 381 Index 411 Introduction Of thespectreshauntingMarxism,stadialismmaybeoneof themostperni- cious.Thenotionthatthroughasequenceofhistoricalstagestherewillbean inevitabletransitiontocommunismhasbeendiscreditedinmostquarters.It hasbeenreplacedbyareversethesis,holdingthattheideaof atransitionto a communist form of social life is inevitably doomed to fail. This thesis fur- therseemstosuggestthatanyattempttoachievecommunismdenieshistorical reality,oralternatively,thatsuchattemptsarebasedonthefaultyapplication of grand narratives that cannot be accepted in the discourse of postmodern capitalism.Themainthrustofthisbookistoprovidephilosophicalideasand scientificevidencethatallowsustothinkhistoryinawaythatdepartsfrom stadialism,butwhichdoessocoherentlyandwiththeaimof supportingthe work of building communism. It seeks to be part of a broader movement to breakthe‘bondsoffate’ofnotionsofhistoricalinevitabilitytowhichMarxism hasbeenshackled,toitsownmisfortune. Intellectually,itdrawsupontherecognitionofthealeatorycurrentinphilo- sophythatgrewoutoftheworkoftheLireCapitalgroupofAlthusser,Balibar, Machereyandothers,andsincehasbeentakenupbysucceedinggenerations. Thealeatoryherereferstotheroleof chanceandunpredictabilityinhistory, whichdemolishthenotionofaninevitablesequenceofstagesofsocialdevel- opment.Itopensupaperspectivethatrecognisesapluralityof past,present, andfuturehistoricaltrajectories.Ofparticularimportanceinthisperspectiveis thethesisofpluraltemporality,whichrecognisestheinterweavingofdifferent elementsandtemporalities.Assuch,thisthesisrendersthenotionofdiscrete historicalstagesobsoleteandpresentsamorenuanced,richerviewofhistor- icalcausalitythatcanincorporatethealeatory.Thisbookarguesthecasefor a complementary thesis to that of plural temporality, that of the plurality of worlds.Inabasicsense,thisthesisaddsaspatialdimensiontothetemporal one,inthiswayrecognisingdistinctspatio-temporalforms. In more concrete terms such forms constitute the major word-historical regions, such as China, Mesoamerica, the Mediterranean, and so on. Recog- nising these forms enables comparative studies of their characteristics and trajectoriesofdevelopment.Fromtheperspectiveofthethesisoftheplurality ofworlds,itisprecisely‘worlds’thatformthelifebloodofhistory,whileabstract notionssuchasthemodeofproductionareusedtofacilitatecomparativeana- lysis.Inthiswayitcloselyrelatestothedistinctionbetweenteleologicaland aleatory conceptions of the mode of production recognised in the aleatory currentof philosophy.Itwillbearguedherethatthethesisof thepluralityof © 2 introduction worldsderivesfromancientEpicureanideasontherelationofhumankindand nature,aswellasitsearlyhistory.Thisaddsanewbodyof worksofarabsent inthedebatesonthealeatorycurrent,whichhasfocusedontheontologyof atomsand voidin Epicurus and Lucretius,and on tracingthe receptionand reworkingoftheseideasinlaterEuropeanphilosophers. This absence is unfortunate for its neglect of a rich source of inspiration formodernideasabouthistory,namelythefifthbookof Lucretius’Dererum natura.1InLucretiusitispossibletorecognisethebasicprinciplesofanaleat- ory conception of history from early humans to contemporary civilisation, usingbasicprinciplesthatcanalsobefoundinthemorelimitedsurvivingwrit- ingsof Epicurus.Fortheancientatomists,humankindinitsinteractionwith itsphysicalandculturalenvironmentshastheabilitytoadaptnotjusttothose conditionsbuttochangethemaswell,somethingcapturedintheGreekterm phusiopoiei.2 Accidental encounters with natural phenomena form the basis forspecifictechnicalinventions,justasthosebetweenpeoplegeneratednew socialarrangements.AscanbestbeseeninLucretius,togetherthisseriesof encountersformsthetapestrythatisthehistoryofhumankind.Furthermore, thishistoryinturndependsontheprecedingencountersthatledtotheemer- genceofthekosmosandoflifeingeneralandhumansspecifically. Thethesisofthepluralityofworldsisspecificallybasedontheparallelestab- lishedbyEpicurusbetweenthevariationbetweenthedifferentkosmoiinthe universe on the one hand, and different trajectories of distinct regions.This perspectivebecamemorepronouncedandexplicitinreceptionsofEpicurean ideas in Renaissance Europe, where the thesis became intertwined with the newlydiscoveredAmericancontinentanditscultures.Inthehandsof Mon- taigne,itbecameameanstounderstandtheindigenousAmericancivilisations in their own terms, distinct both from the western Europe of his own time and from Greco-Roman antiquity. However, Eurocentric and colonialist per- spectives sought to diminish these civilisations, placing them rather on the lower rungs of an ascending series of stages. This stadialist perspective was powerfullycapturedinJohnLocke’snotionthattheindigenousculturesofthe Americaspresentedthebeginningsofhumandevelopmenteverywhere,aper- spectivethatfoundapowerfulechoinAdamSmith. Itisalsopreciselythisnotionthatmakesitpossibletodelineatedifferent strandswithinMarxism,astheyrelatetoboththealeatorycurrentingeneral andthethesisofthepluralityofworldsinparticular.Usewillbemadeinthis 1 Hereafterabbreviatedasdrn. 2 AsusedbyDemocritus,seeTaylor1999,p.15.
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