Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: This article discusses automation from the point of view of the intersection between Aristotle and Marx. First, it was Aristotle’s notion of automatous – self-moving tools – that gave rise to the contemporary concept of automation. Marx’s historical materialism is important as it puts the ongoing process of automation into a historical perspective. The development of self-moving machines should free us from the slavery of hard work, yet the legal and political superstructure of capitalism means that the growth of automation produces new forms of precarious wage-slavery. Alasdair MacIntyre’s Aristotelian notion of practice is discussed vis-à-vis the Marxian notion of alienated labour. Given the conceptual structure – alienated labour (which prevents us from flourishing) versus non-alienated labour (as essential for human flourishing) – the article poses the question of whether we can apply this in our attempt to assess the ongoing process of automation.
Source: Capital & Class
Author: Andrius Bielskis
Institutions: Mykolas Romeris University, Kaunas University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Lietuvos Mokslo Taryba
OpenAlex ID: W4387335420