Home / Quotes / Quote by Allen W. Wood

Quote by Allen W. Wood

“It has taken me a long time to realize where I most disagree with Marx. His assessment of capitalism is far too favorable. He took its instability, inhumanity and irrationality to be signs that it was a merely transitional form, which had delivered into humanity's hands the means to a much better way of life than any that have ever existed on earth. Marx could not bring himself to believe that our species is so benighted, irrational and slavish that it would put up with such a monstrous way of life.”

Quote by Allen W. Wood

Author

Allen W. Wood, born in 1942, is a renowned professor in the field of philosophy. He has made significant contributions to ethics and political philosophy, with a rich academic career that spans several decades. Wood's research has influenced scholars worldwide, and his works have provided new insights into moral and political theories. more

You May Also Like

“Capitalism has not proven to be a transitional form, a gateway to a higher human future.”

Humans Form Higher Capitalism Proven Gateways

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Capitalism now seems more likely a swamp, a bog, a quicksand in which humanity is presently flailing about, unable to extricate itself, perhaps doomed to perish within a few generations from the long term effects of the technology which seemed to Marx its greatest gift to humanity.”

Long Seems Humanity Term Technology Generations Effects Capitalism Long Term Doomed Greatest Gifts Swamps Quicksand Bogs Flailing

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Capitalism has proven to be a far more terrible system than Marx could ever bring himself to imagine. Those who are so deluded as to find something good in it, or even feel loyalty toward it, are its most pitiful victims.”

Feels Imagine Terrible Capitalism Victim Loyalty Proven Deluded Pitiful

Author:Allen W. Wood

“What Smith and Marx have in common is that they were both philosophers of great vision and perceptiveness, deep humanity, and a sense of social reality that has been lost in the abstractly formalistic economic theories that have dominated the field since the last third of the nineteenth century.”

Has Beens Reality Lasts Humanity Lost Social Common Vision Economic Century Fields Theory Thirds Philosopher Nineteenth Century Great Vision Economic Theory

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Those who see Smith as a defender of capitalism - as it existed in Marx's day, or as it exists today - show above all that they are not living in the real world. They are behaving as though the undeveloped form of capitalism Smith studied is still with us.”

World Stills Real Shows Today Form Capitalism Real World Defenders

Author:Allen W. Wood

“In general, those who defend capitalism are basically out of touch with reality.”

Reality Capitalism

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Smith could not be expected to have anticipated the horrors that were to come. But even in his own time, he was a defender of certain state actions that he thought necessary in order to safeguard the good effects of commercial society (Smith did not speak of 'capitalism' and was acquainted only with an early undeveloped form of it). Among these state actions the chief was general public education.”

States Action Form Certain Order Speak Effects Horror Capitalism Expected Chiefs Defenders Public Education General Public

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Adam Smith was aware of the way that economic interests could have a distorting and destructive effect both on the market and on politics.”

Way Interest Economic Effects Destructive Adam

Author:Allen W. Wood

“Adam Smith saw the greed of modern capitalism for what it was - a form of destructive ambition that may have favorable effects on the productive capacities of society, but which is of no direct benefit to anyone - not even to the greedy themselves, whose illusory chase after a will-o-the-wisp leaves them morally bankrupt and unhappy.”

May Form Saws Modern Effects Benefits Ambition Capitalism Capacity Direct Greed Unhappy Destructive Productive Adam Greedy Illusory Wisps

Author:Allen W. Wood

“There is a lot in Adam Smith that reflects the insights of Rousseau and anticipates those of Marx.”

Insight Adam Anticipate

Author:Allen W. Wood