A talk about formal logic and Hegel's critique of it.

We begin with Aristotle's syllogistic and its dominance throughout the medieval period; then discuss the transition to modern logic in the late 19th century, specifically Frege's development of predicate logic, which is now canonical. The transition was not just a technical improvement but a fundamental shift in how we understand the nature of logical categories -- a shift from a logic of internal relations to one of external relations, and the introduction of a sharp distinction between syntax and semantics.

The modern era is marked by the proliferation of different logics, some adopting incompatible logical principles. Modern logic hasn't realized Leibniz's dream of a universal calculus of reasoning, but instead has given us a forest of logics, each with its own domain of application and its own rules.So logical pluralism challenges the idea of a single, universal logic.

Drawing on Hegel, modern logical pluralism implies no special logic can claim foundational significance, fully justify its own normative force, or even be said to be truly logical. Our modern logic is technically sophisticated but perhaps we've become lost in the forest. Hegel's vision of a universal logic -- one that explains the conditions for the possibility of any form of reasoning -- points a way out.

Guest speaker Nikolaos Chatzarakis, Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research, joins the Oxford Communist Correspondence Society to explore the structural evolution of capitalism. Nikos examines the dynamic relationship between the "Law of Accumulation" and the "Falling Rate of Profit," arguing that these economic forces are the primary engines behind the major shifts in global history.

Key topics discussed:

- The Mechanics of Profit: How the rising "organic composition of capital" creates an inherent downward pressure on profitability.

- Long Cycles of Development: From the age of steam and railways to the emergence of digital networks and Artificial Intelligence.- Formal vs. Real Subsumption: How capital takes control of the labor process to squeeze out higher levels of productivity.

- Modern Crises: A look at how current trends - including the gig economy, "techno-feudalism," and the 2008 financial crisis - fit into Marx’s long-term predictions.

40 mins talk followed by ~1 hour of discussion.

We dive into the centuries-old controversy of economic value: is it determined by the objective difficulty of bringing goods to market or by the subjective preferences of consumers? The discussion frames this conflict using Adam Smith’s famous water-diamond paradox. We explore the 1870s marginal revolution, where economists like Menger, Jevons, and Walras developed subjective theories based on the principle of diminishing marginal utility. This analytical method also served an ideological purpose, directly undermining socialist critiques by denying any objective anchor for value. The talk explains how modern neoclassicism attempts to reconcile objective and subjective factors, but due to its obsession with equilibrium, exhibits value nihilism - the assertion that economic value does not really exist. Economics remains "half a science" due to its inability to analyze dynamics and movement over time.