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→Charles Fourier: grammar
(added descriptions of the main three thinkers with references, and discussed the influence of the St. Simonians in the development of finance capital, the Credit Mobilier, marx's commentary on it .... also overhauled the description since the self organization of small groups could not actually account for someone like St. Simon, making the focus more on idealism vs. materialism .... need references to socialism utopian and scientific) |
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=== Charles Fourier === | === Charles Fourier === | ||
Of the bunch, '''Charles Fourier (1772-1837)''' was the most grandiose in his vision. Self importance was hardly unusual among early socialists (or contemporary ones, for that matter), but Fourier was uniquely open about it, a fact made plain by the account he gives of the genesis of his system. Traveling through France in 1798 he noticed the discrepancy in apple prices in areas of similar climate. He became fixated upon the injustice of price inflation brought upon by middlemen, and from this kernel developed his system. From this, he concluded that in all history "there had been two pernicious apples, those of Adam and Paris (the apples of discord), and two beneficial ones, Newton's and his own."<ref>Kolakowski, ''Main Currents of Marxism,'' V1 p.199</ref> His vision matched his self-conception in its fantastic scope. Humanity was to be arranged in 'Phalanxes,' each stocked with men whose occupations would be commensurate with their personalities (categorized in his own baroque schema comprising 810 types generated from 12 passions) and constituting a self-sufficient agricultural and industrial unit. Freedom was to be absolute: no job would be kept longer than it was desired; with the family abolished, children would be raised in common, and brothels sanctified. Grand transformation was not to confine itself to the realm of man; | Of the bunch, '''Charles Fourier (1772-1837)''' was the most grandiose in his vision. Self importance was hardly unusual among early socialists (or contemporary ones, for that matter), but Fourier was uniquely open about it, a fact made plain by the account he gives of the genesis of his system. Traveling through France in 1798 he noticed the discrepancy in apple prices in areas of similar climate. He became fixated upon the injustice of price inflation brought upon by middlemen, and from this kernel developed his system. From this, he concluded that in all history "there had been two pernicious apples, those of Adam and Paris (the apples of discord), and two beneficial ones, Newton's and his own."<ref>Kolakowski, ''Main Currents of Marxism,'' V1 p.199</ref> His vision matched his self-conception in its fantastic scope. Humanity was to be arranged in 'Phalanxes,' each stocked with men whose occupations would be commensurate with their personalities (categorized in his own baroque schema comprising 810 types generated from 12 passions) and constituting a self-sufficient agricultural and industrial unit. Freedom was to be absolute: no job would be kept longer than it was desired; with the family abolished, children would be raised in common, and brothels sanctified. Grand transformation was not to confine itself to the realm of man; Kolakowski summarizes:<blockquote>The seas would turn into orangeade, deserts would blossom and glaciers melt, spring would be eternal, and wild beasts would die out or become friends of man, 'anti-lions' and 'anti-whales' to do his bidding. There would be a single language for all mankind; all would live life to the full, developing their personality in all directions, in a happy and harmonious community embracing every kind of sentiment and avocation.</blockquote> | ||
=== Robert Owen === | === Robert Owen === | ||