Unregulated marketplace is inconceivable within Sri Aurobindian ontology

[In Sri Aurobindo's view the impact of economics on science becomes problematic when it is appropriated for the self-aggrandizement of the titans of capitalism. Sri Aurobindo, never afraid to call a spade a spade, refers to this appropriation of science by the titans of capitalism as economic barbarism. He states the case that science solely in the service of the machinery of titanic capitalism poses a threat to human life itself. He goes so far as to state that when science is exploited by the vital power demands of the capitalist it threatens to collapse not only the common good but poses a risk to life itself. This dangerous dialectic here is between the quest for knowledge and a vulgar will to power... One can not help to see that part of the problem is the nature of the hyper-capitalist economy, the unregulated marketplace where a vital struggle of competition of all against all takes place. We do not know how Sri Aurobindo would view today's global capitalism, but from his writings above it is clear that he would not approve of unfettered free markets in which nature, life, and labor were exploited by the the vital will of the opulent plutocrat, the successful mammoth capitalist and organizer of industry. In all likelihood therefore, he would view science in the service of today's unregulated free markets as bound to end with mixed results for the common good.
In fact, contemporary science in service of the neo-liberal economy has been thoroughly critiqued in post-modern scholarship and stands accused of exploiting the common good for its own financial gain. In Marxist terms the inability of science to fully serve the common good is an inevitable result of the inequalities that govern class based societies. If anything the inequality of society has only been exacerbated since Sri Aurobindo concluded the Life Divine. 100 Years of Sri Aurobindo on Evolution: The dialectics of biology and culture; science, ecology & economics (part 6 of 6)
by Rich on Thu 09 Apr 2009 01:36 PM PDT Permanent Link Integral Ideology]

[Re: 100 Years of Sri Aurobindo on Evolution: Complexity and the Dialectics of the Visible and Invisible (part 4 of 6)
by Debashish on Tue 31 Mar 2009 11:41 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link
Yes, this is what it boils down to for SA. The postcolonial theorist Trinh Minh-ha points to the irony of modernity being that of global success in tying all human beings in bondage and anonymity but convincing them that they have been granted individual freedom. Reply
by Debashish on Tue 31 Mar 2009 11:45 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link
I agree, though he is perhaps thinking more of a "future science" along the lines of the reinvention of Vedic science that he has indicated. Still, it cannot be said that he is foreclosing the possibilities of contemporary techno-science in aiding the further evolution of the human species. Reply Techno-Capitalism and Post-Human Destinies III TCPHD II TCPHD I]

[Re: 100 Years of Sri Aurobindo on Evolution: The Illusion of Human Progress and the Ideal of Human Unity (part 5 of 6)
by Kepler on Mon 06 Apr 2009 08:55 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link Re his 1909 comment on the “immediate future of the human race” involving some significant harmonization, no doubt he didn’t seem to be expecting the two world wars around the corner, and his writings during and just after those events were obviously influenced by them. But not being the immediate future (in 1909) doesn’t therefore imply not in the future at all. It would certainly be interesting to know his take on subsequent developments like the rather sudden and peaceful ending of the cold war, the growth of institutions such as the European union, etc. Kepler]

[Re: 100 Years of Sri Aurobindo on Evolution: The Illusion of Human Progress and the Ideal of Human Unity (part 5 of 6)
by Tony Clifton on Mon 06 Apr 2009 12:36 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link: In fact, he does still sees human unity as inevitable (that is if humanity survives) but human unity is the drive of the "effort of nature in man". And as he makes clear in stating that it may even take 3rd World War to precipitate it, that it is more likely in spite of rather than because of human effort that human unity will be achieved. Regards what he would he would make of current world events. It is simply impossible to know, what he would think of the world today. The best one can do is offer interpretations and on this subject those interpretations will never be free of ones own historical and cultural commitments. Reply Science, Culture and Integral Yoga]

Richard Carlson hardly achieves anything spectacular in this set of essays except reiterating his pet peeves, Capitalism & Social Darwinism. He forgets the fact that an "unregulated marketplace" is inconceivable within the framework of Sri Aurobindian ontology, and at best is "an intellectual construct" (Levins). Instead of being wary of "long and troubled history" of things, The Mother & Sri Aurobindo invite us to engage with the future with heroic optimism and happy reliance on the Divine providence; dabble childlike in the little pool carved out of perpetual time. [TNM]