Quote:
Originally posted by fedfem@09-18-2003 08:22 AM
I would argue that survival not ambition is what drives the human psyche. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs comes to mind. |
I agree -- to an extent. We might reach a point where the psycho-social maturity of the vast majority of people reach the higher level of self-actualisation. But the reality I see is that the vast majority of people are no-where near that (myself included, sadly). But, according to Maslow's heirarchy, most of us here are sitting around the third or fourth levels (social and ego needs). In Maslow's book, he makes it very clear that self-actualisation is very rare. Right below that, the level that most of us reach, we have ego needs: service of self.
In Adam Smith's theory of economy, he argues that the invisible hand of market forces operate such that if every individual acts from their self-interest, the collective impact of their actions will actually serve society. He described the mechanism by which this process would occur.
The model of communism I see here has the same form of 'magic wand' -- by instituting as communist structure to society, people will become less self-interested and more altruistic. What I don't see is the mechanism by which this will occur.