Vaclav Havel and Schumacher

7/30/2019 Vaclav Havel and Schumacher

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Saul Wainwright

Pol 4044F

Final Essay

Prof. Nash

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Introduction

Vaclav Havel and E.F. Schumacher are both critically concerned with how the

functioning of the modern nation-state and its economy has become dislocated from

humanity and its relationship to nature. They are both equally concerned with the ways in

which nature and humanity are ignored by this system and they believe that, placing the

importance of nature and humanity center stage is the only way that our society can and

ought to operate. Havel sees the role of individuals acceptance of the injustices of the

system as the site for change. He believes that operating from a basis of personal truth,

derived from the recognition of the mystery of nature, is the only way to create space

for political alternatives. E. F. Schumacher believes economics in its current incarnation

a price mediated through money markets ignores the difference between things that

hold economic or non-economic values. Schumacher believes the change will be based

out of a change in the meta-economics of society. He therefore believes that by

reorienting the focus, or expanding the terrain of economics to recognize qualitative

differences, rather then just quantitative differences, will result in a people centered

economics. Havel and Schumachers arguments are both based off the same starting point

a critique of the dehumanizing and impersonal nature of our economy and political

system, which is leading to environmental destruction and by rational conclusion, thedestruction of human life. They both believe that the only way to rectify this situation is

by operating, as individuals and society, from a place of truth. Despite the very different

conclusions for agency, Havels ideas compliment Schumachers work and give a

political agency to his argument that had previously being lacking, and at the same time

Schumachers work gives a terrain for the truth to be expressed in very concrete ways

that contribute to a building up of material (understood as based in nature) alternative

ways of living.

Schumacher

Schumachers focus on the philosophy (or lack thereof) of economics is central to his

critique of modern society. Schumacher says that, [T]o say that our economic future is

being determined by the economists would be an exaggeration; but that their influence, or


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in any case the influence of economics, is far-reaching can hardly be doubted.1

He

essentially associates economics with the central role of determining what is

economic and what is uneconomic and that these criteria, are above all other

criteria, in their ability to influence over [sic] the actions of individuals and groups as

well as over those of governments.2

Schumacher sees the political dominance of

economic ideas and says, It is hardly an exaggeration to say that, with increasing

affluence, economics has moved into the very centre of public concern, and that through

this dominance of economic thought and through the act of condemnation of something

as uneconomic, its right to existence is not merely questioned but energetically denied.3

This concern with the dominance of economics then leads Schumacher to explore what is

determining the distinction between what is economic verse uneconomic. Schumacher

recognizes that in order to get at this question he needs to engage ideas outside of the

normal realm of economic thought moving towards the importance of qualitative verse

quantitative distinctions is critically important to this move.

For Schumacher the central role that economics plays in society is not a problem, in fact

he by no means supposes to replace economics with something else. What he wants to

highlight is that economics is a function of something else. That, in essence, economics

does not operate distinct from its surroundings or philosophical roots that dominate the

society at any one stage. What he is concerned with is the overtly scientific focus of

economics and its obsession with the quantitative that leads to an economist turned-

econometrician, and that they, economists, fail to pay attention to the primacy of

qualitative distinctions.4

In other words our understanding of economics does not

encompass a large enough spectrum of life. Schumacher has to expand the understanding

of economics to one that embeds it into a larger philosophy of society. Schumacher,

quoted John Stuart Mill as saying that, the political-economy is not a thing by itself, but

as a fragment of a greater whole; a branch of social philosophy, so interlinked with all the

1

E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, (London: Abacus,

1974), p. 33.2

Ibid., p. 33.3 Ibid., p. 34.4 Ibid., p. 40.


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other branches that its conclusions, even in its own peculiar province, are only true

conditionally, subject to interference and counteraction from causes not directly within its

scope.5

What are these other causes and from where do they originate? In an effort to get

at this Schumacher introduces a concept of meta-economics.

For Schumacher, [T]he main subject matter of economics is goods.6 But, the

economics, as currently constituted, does not make clear distinctions between what are

man-made or God-given goods. This economy is not concerned with the qualitative

differences of these goods, whereas, for Schumacher, economists should insist on, the

primacy of qualitative distinctions.7The meta-economy is where these distinctions or

lack of distinctions are first introduced, differences may be called meta-economictheyhave to be recognised before economic analysis begins.

8To illustrate these

fundamental and vital differences9

Schumacher divides goods up into categories. He

created the following distinctions; goods fall into two groups, primary and secondary.

In order for humanity to obtain the secondary goods they need access to the primary

goods. These primary goods originate as either renewable or non-renewable natural God-

given resources. The production of secondary goods is critically tied to the access to, or

the extraction of, primary goods. Therefore the manufactured and services goods that

form part of the secondary group are dependent on the primary group, An expansion of

mans ability to bring forth secondary products is useless unless preceded by an

expansion of his ability to win primary products from the earth, for man is not a producer

but only a converter.10

The distinctions between these different goods is lost in an

economy that brings all goods to the market where they are treated the same, as objects

for sale and the market knows nothing of these distinctions.11

Schumacher does not

see the current economic system as fixed or based on some sort of natural laws, for him

economics is a derived science which accepts instructions from what I call meta-

5

Ibid., p. 34.6

Ibid., p. 40.7

Ibid., p. 40.8

Ibid., p. 42.9

Ibid., p. 41.10 Ibid., p. 41.11 Ibid., p. 41.


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economics.12

The logical conclusion of this argument is that the terrain of agency is to

be found in the realm of meta-economics.

To illustrate the way in which a shift in the meta-economics can change the broader

economic functioning Schumacher uses an idea of Buddhist economics. I am not going

to go into any detail of what Buddhist economics specifically results in, though in certain

circles there has been a latching onto the ideas that are highlighted as a methodological

solution to the problem of modern economics. The reason I dont see the importance in

highlighting the specifics of Buddhist economics as expounded by Schumacher is

because even for him the choice is rather arbitrary, The choice of Buddhism for this

purpose is purely incidental; the teachings of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism could havebeen used just as well as those of any other of the great Eastern traditions.

13What is

important about this argument is that Schumacher is trying to reiterate how the moral or

ethical codes that can be found in religions or ancient traditions that call attention to ideas

of wealth that extend beyond the material, can help guide and create alternative economic

systems, No one seems to think that a Buddhist way of life would call for Buddhist

economics, just as the modern materialist way of life has brought forth modern

economics.14

So, Schumacher shows that this other way of life calls forth, through the

meta-economy, different forms of economic functioning and ends.

Truth

At this point then we need to turn to Schumachers concept of truth, which also enables

me to bring in the ideas of Havel allowing me to extend Schumachers argument into a

place of political agency as defined by Havel. For Schumacher the idea of truth is what

creates a set of boundaries and guides us in our choices, Mankind has indeed a certain

freedom of choice: it is not bound by trends, by the logic of production, or by any other

fragmentary logic. But it is bound by truth. Only in service to truth is perfect freedom

from the bondage of the existing system possible.15

Exploring ideas of truth is far

12

Ibid., p. 43.13

Ibid., p. 43.14 Ibid., p. 44.15 Schumacher, op. cit., p. 248.


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harder, after all the system that currently operates based on a meta-economics derived

from a philosophy of materialism, is operating based on the truth of materialism, or as

Havel says, might the economy not function quite smoothly, after all, in the service of

total destruction?16

Therefore both Havel and Schumacher need to ground the truth in a

particular argument that appeals to the concrete existence of people, today. They both use

the same basis, one derived from nature as a critical part of human existence and

something that has not been recognized or included in the current political-economic

system. For Schumacher, Modern man does not experience himself as a part of nature

but as an outside force destined to dominate and conquer it.17

This alienation is critical

and is enabled through the depersonalized and purely abstract nature of the money based

market system. This is something that I highlighted earlier in Schumachers

understanding of meta-economics. Economics, as currently constituted because of the

truths expressed through the meta-economy, means that it is inherent in the

methodology of economics to ignore mans dependence on the natural world.18 This is

because economics has historically operated as if the framework within which economic

activity takes place as givenas permanent and indestructible.19 But in the modern age

this is being greatly questioned because of the increasing evidence of environmental

destruction.20

Havel makes a similar critique of the modern system highlighting thesoiling of the heavens.

21The system for Havel must honor with the humility of the

wise the limits of that natural world and the mystery which lies beyond them.22

This

then grounds the truth, of both Havel and Schumacher, into something concrete and

appeals to, they both believe, something that exceeds all our competence23

but

highlights a truth that cannot be denied. By placing the ends above the means there is

hope of reorienting the system towards a functioning that will enable the lasting

16 Vaclav Havel, Politics and Conscience, in Open Letters: Selected Writings, 1965-2000 (New York:

Vintage, 1992), p. 264.17

Schumacher, op. cit., p. 11.18

Havel, op. cit., p. 36.19


Ibid., p. 42.21

Havel, op. cit., p. 250.22 Havel, op. cit., p. 267.23 Havel, op. cit., p. 267.


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permanence of humanity. For Schumacher the obsession with valuing means above

ends destroys mans freedom and power to choose the ends he really favours; the

development of means, as it were, dictates the choice of ends.24

Havel highlights the

same issue, To what purpose a system functions is, after all, more important than how it

does so.25

In this commonality between the two authors we are left with a similar question of

agency. How does one create the changes in the meta-economy that Schumacher

highlights as important? After all Schumacher believes that this is the site of agency but

he fails to discuss how one would implement this change in the meta-economic

environment. Schumacher never actually engages this question rather he goes on toexplain what Havel would call technical or organizational trick [sic] designed to produce

better economic functioning.26

Havel was not satisfied by these sorts of solutions; ideas

such as intermediate technologies or a theory of large scale organisation". Havel

believed that, in grounding this truth in an understanding and recognition of the primacy

of nature understood as the mystery people must have the ability personally to

guarantee something that transcends him and so to sacrifice, in extremis, even life itself to

that which makes life meaningful.27

In Havels essay, Power of the Powerless, he states

that;

if living within the truth is an elementary starting point for every attempt made

by people to oppose the alienating pressure of the system, if it is the only

meaningful basis of any independent act of political import, and if, ultimately, it is

also the most intrinsic existential source of the "dissident" attitude, then it is

difficult to imagine that even manifest "dissent" could have any other basis than

24


Havel, op. cit., p. 264.26 Ibid., p. 264.27 Havel, op. cit., p. 265.


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the service of truth, the truthful life, and the attempt to make room for the genuine

aims of life.28

Havel does not spare modern politics in the same way that he does not spare modern

economics of his critique. However, he in certain ways extends a type of agency to

Schumachers argument and asks for a deeper commitment to the change. Havel asks for

a sacrifice, for the sake of that which gives life meaning.29 What Havel opens up is

something far deeper then the solutions, or the terrains of action that Schumacher

highlights. It is hard to not think of Schumachers solutions as technical or

bureaucratic fixes. In fact Schumachers ideas have led to a series of ongoing

experiments that are propagated and emphasized through the Schumacher Institute andthe New Economics Foundation. The work of these groups focuses on local economic

development using a series of economic tools including community based currencies,

local investment schemes, etc. Schumacher highlights the meta-economy as the source of

potential change that this is where the economic decisions emanate from, however the

solutions that Schumacher proposes focus on the local and on alternatives that are hard to

see as impacting the meta-currency narrative. Perhaps it is something that I have missed

in the other works of Schumacher, or perhaps it is due to his singular focus on the

economy, to the extent that he doesnt even see much relevancy in political shifts. In this

way then there is a tension between Havel and Schumacher. Havel is focused on a

completeness of the claiming of personal responsibility, a shift that calls people forth to

act from a position of consciousness and that the seemingly powerless person who

dares to cry out the word of truth and to stand behind it with all his person and all his

lifehas, surprisingly, greater power.30

The solution, or the way to a solution, is through the dominance of this truth that both

Havel and Schumacher highlight. Without this truth becoming the central element in the

functioning of society then the continued destructive drive of the modern political

28

Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless, in Open Letters: Selected Writings, 1965-2000 (New York:

Vintage, 1992), p. 133.29 Havel, op. cit., p. 263.30 Havel, op. cit., p. 270.


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economy will continue to dominate. In order for this shift to occur both authors rely on a

form of dissent. Havel is far more literal in his dissent, and it is a dissent that attempts to

challenge the political powers directly. This dissenter has, surprisingly greater power,

though formally disfranchised, than do thousands of anonymous voters.31

It is a political

question for Havel and the solution is a political one framed as antipolitical politics.

This concept of politics is one that seeks to not reinforce the politics of the technology

of power and manipulation but rather as a politics of practical morality, as service to

the truth, as essentially human and humanly measured care for our fellow humans.32

The

tension here, is that Havel defines politics as the definition of a technology of power

and his re-definition is nothing like politics, neither as he defined it nor as society

understands it. The same is true for Schumacher, his conceptualization of economics as if

people mattered, is one that is diametrically opposed to the definition of economics that

he defines as the current and dominant form. This is the central flaw in Schumachers

argument because he places the point of change on the level of meta-economy but his

conceptualization of an alternative is one grounded in the economy and pays limited

attention to the ways in which the meta-economy is changed. What Schumacher does

present are a bunch of smaller forms of dissent that are concretely manifested in forms of

alternative economics. The question that this leaves me with is how do these alternativeslead to a change or help towards promoting a change in the meta-economy?

Conclusion

The contradiction that Schumacher is stuck with is that he believes that the modern

economy has come to take such a dominant place in determining the actions of

individuals and society, yet he places his solutions into the economic sphere. He does not,

in the end talk about a politics that may lead to shifts in the meta-economy. This is

something that Havel does far more, and places far more importance on this action. Havel

sees this as the only true way to express the truth that both he and Schumacher highlight.

Keynes said, not to overestimate the importance of the economic problem, or sacrifice

31 Ibid., p. 270.32 Ibid., p. 269.


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to its supposed necessities other matters of greater and more permanent significance.33

How then do Schumachers solutions escape this danger? I believe the only way that it

can is if it is aligned or articulated with a Havelian notion of antipolitical politics. With

this approach an agency that keeps the truth as central to the actions of dissenters and

reminds them of the ultimate sacrifice that they, as conscious individuals with a sense of

responsibility, may have to make. However, at the same time, Schumacher lands up

complimenting a Havelian argument because it opens up opportunities, in the very

concrete space of production and economics, to explore alternative ways of economic

sustenance that are in many ways opposed, or at the very least dissenting, from the

dominant form of modern economics and politics. Understanding how these two

philosophies antipolitical politics & economics as if people mattered can work

together opens up room for a strong alliance and prevents Schumachers arguments from

devolving into mere reforms or week experiments that dont grow nor challenge the

larger macro-economic narrative.

33 Schumacher, op. cit., p. 34.

Vaclav Havel and Schumacher

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