Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Life of Pure Consumption
As I continue with my research project on Marx and freedom, I'm finding Marx's conception of human nature to depend hugely upon productive activity. For him, it seems that this ability to produce and "objectify our essence" through production is what makes us uniquely human. While I am largely sympathetic to this view, I think one thought experiment might clarify things a bit. Is it possible to live the life of pure consumption, i.e. one which involves no productive activity? Of course we all want leisure time and to consume at minimal cost (or no cost), but is it actually possible to produce nothing? If it is possible, than perhaps Marx is wrong. Perhaps we can live as the morbidly obese humans aboard the Axiom as in WALL-E...
In case the question is still unclear, imagine the following. You live in a cushy Upper East Side apartment, with an unlimited credit card. You can buy whatever you want, and you are free to move about and do as you please. Your apartment has a kitchen, with beautiful granite counters but no stove or oven, for to cook would be to engage in productive, creative activity. You can buy clothes from the most expensive stores, but you must only wear them as entire outfits, for to assemble your own would be to produce, to create. As you move about your social life, you can shower your friends with lavish gifts, but only objects which you can purchase in their entirety. You may not bake them a cake, or write them a card, or even use poetic language in your speech, for to do so would be, again, to create. You may have sex with anyone (and anything), but only if you agree to be sterile. You are free to take and to consume anything you wish -- but you must never create.
Is this life possible? Could it be fulfilling, and livable? To me, it seems to be clearly a distopia, but must it be so? Must our lives include creation, or is this demand simply that of a misty-eyed dreamer divorced from reality?
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