The Point Is To Interpret, Right Now

Comrades,

(I know, but what else shall I call you?)

'The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.'

But what chance of change, when there is no satisfactory interpretation? Hence no sufficient rationale for making change.

Right now, interpretation is required.

And this is my notebook for interpreting what is going on, right now, as it happens; as a philosopher.

So what does this mean: 'as a philosopher'?

The philosopher's interpretation, as I see it, and as I see the need for it, is the logical reconstruction of current events in their relation to underlying social relations; or, and this is the original point, perhaps in their relation to the absence of underlying social relations.

It is my supposition that the Western way of life now has only a vicarious connection to the general relations between producers as expressed in the products of their labour. Until recently, these were the underpinning of our interpersonal relations. Today we continue to associate, but with only an indirect relation to the societal relations of production. The latter also continue to exist, but they are now largely displaced from the West and increasingly centralised in the East.

In the advanced capitalist nations of the first half of the 20th century, ideology was a material force; in the second half, the absence of ideology was also a material force. Now, in the early decades of the 21st century, the absence of material is a force peculiar to the West.

The point of this notebook is to identify the impact of this absence as it makes itself felt in current events; conversely, to interpet events in the light of what isn't there.