Jakub Gużyński, Krzysztof Tarkowski
(Institute of Philosophy, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń)
Abstract:
In Inventing the Future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams put forward a leftist vision for society in a post-work world. The authors continue their accelerationist project and, in truly Marxist fashion, call for universal emancipation. They argue that as long as the left retain their preference for ‘folk politics’, they will be unable to overcome neoliberal hegemony. Srnicek and Williams propose that effective politics cannot be built around ideas of localism, direct action, and horizontalism. The Left, via their fetishization of direct democracy, are unable to create stable political structures and need to return to long-term, large-scale goals and to projecting a desirable future. Srnicek and Williams try to learn from the success of neoliberalism and call for a Mont Pelerin of the left. Not wishing, however, to copy the neoliberal mode of operation, their call is for a new hegemony of the left, centred around regaining a notion of the future – a notion which has currently been almost completely colonised by neoliberalist visions, and which equates to a movement towards a dystopian vision of the degradation of our planet. If the Left wants to regain the future, it must do philosophical work to reformulate the basic categories of progress, universalism and freedom. The authors show that under contemporary neoliberalism work is in a crisis that has recently only deepened due to surplus population, automation and jobless recovery. Not wishing to re-establish the classic slogan of social democracy (full employment) the authors call instead for a world without work. To achieve this end, we need three things: full automation, shorter working weeks and a universal basic income. The biggest problems with the implementation of these demands are not economic, rather, political and cultural issues related to deeply rooted views and beliefs on work ethic.
Jakub Gużyński – PhD student at the Institute of Philosophy, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Currently working on his thesis on John Milbank’s political theology.
Krzysztof Tarkowski – PhD student at the Institute of Philosophy, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Currently working on his thesis on Ian Hacking’s non-classical philosophy of science.