Rough Theory

Theory In The Rough

Monthly Archives: September 2009

Marx Reading Group: Ch. 25 – Malthusian Asides

11 Comments Posted by on September 16, 2009

Marx reserves a special sort of loathing for Malthus. Since chapter 25 of Capital focusses precisely on the ways in which capitalism generates its own distinctive laws of population, the chapter can in many respects be read as a frontal assault on Malthus’ work. Marx’s antipathy is so strong, however, that he has to ease [...]

Capital v.1, Ecology, Fetish, Materialism, Philosophy of History, Political Economy

Marx Reading Group: Ch. 25 – Valued Matter

1 Comment Posted by on September 15, 2009

Nate continues to work his way toward chapter 25, so hopefully I don’t need to feel too guilty at putting another brief, drive-by comment on the chapter… Chapter 25 begins with what is by this point a familiar bifurcation – analysing the category of capital as this category can be understood “as value” and “as [...]

Capital v.1, Materialism, Metatheory, Philosophy of History, Political Economy, Self-Reflexivity

Marx Reading Group: Ch. 25 – Revisiting the Product of the Hand

9 Comments Posted by on September 13, 2009

So I’ve been deeply remiss in not making a contribution to the reading group Nate has called on the first volume of Capital – currently focussing on chapter 25, although Nate started us off with some nice reflections on chapter 23. A nice discussion has been underway at Duncan’s blog, jumping off from some observations [...]

Capital v.1, Fetish, Materialism, Philosophy of History, Political Economy

The Platypus of Doom and Other Nihilists

Leave a Comment Posted by on September 8, 2009

I just ran across AbeBooks’ Weird Book Room, which provides the titles and cover art for: a celebration of everything that’s bizarre, odd and downright weird in books. Crazy cookbooks, unusual animal books, how to books that will teach skills you never knew you needed, books about hilarious hobbies, and books about every strange aspect [...]

Links, Overheard

Enjoy Your Symptom!

7 Comments Posted by on September 5, 2009

Okay, this is officially bad science week at Rough Theory… For those who haven’t seen this yet, I wanted to link to an article at TechCrunch on healthBase, which offers “Answers automatically retrieved from millions of authoritative health sources”. HealthBase’s search field invites you to “Enter a health condition, disease or sign”, so that its [...]

Links, Overheard, Technology

Congratulations to Nate

1 Comment Posted by on September 2, 2009

For those who haven’t seen, Nate’s daughter has arrived!

Events, Family

Wearing the Juice: A Case Study in Research Implosion

56 Comments Posted by on September 2, 2009

[Ed. 9 September: Now that events are unfolding a bit more slowly, and people have had a chance, for the most part, to learn about the basic facts, I've moved my on-the-fly updates to the bottom of the post, so that the original text is easier to find. I will try to update all the [...]

Cognitive Science, Current Events, Fieldwork, Links, Methodology, Psychology

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