"Capitalism and class society lead to inequality, instrumentalist thinking, unhappiness and loneliness. Capitalism makes people unhappy, and in some ways drives them mad. Violence in the form of crime, including murder is unavoidable within capitalism".

We have, so far, been dealing with relatively abstract and idealist philosophical ideas, on their own. For our next pair of episodes, however, we will be looking at material realities and how (possibly absurd) concepts like death fit into a capitalist framework, using Christian Fuchs' Death and Love: The Metaphysics of Communication. With excerpts from thinkers like Thomas Nagel, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and Karl Marx, this chapter (part of a larger book titled "Communication and Capitalism: A Critical Theory") raises (uncomfortable) questions about the nature of human relationships and the role of socialism in combating the phenomenon of death.

Considering the length and density of the discussion, the episode has been divided into sections according to the structure of the essay itself, the timestamps to which are below:

Part 1: 7:10

Part 2: 17:40

Part 3: 57:10

We hope you enjoy this one; it was a satisfyingly tough nut to crack.

"The only hopeful counterpart to death is love as the principle of human sympathy and as the social principle of socialism".

Send us a message if you would like to read the essay yourself (we highly recommend you do)!

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