Gone Fishing
Making Sense of Marx's Concept of Communism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6352616 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William James Booth (McGill University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1989 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 205-222 |
| Publication date | 1989-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0090591789017002003 |
| OpenAlex | W1975057168 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
In a splendid essay entitled On Being Conservative Michael Oakeshott writes that certain activities are eminently attractive to those of a conservative disposition. Fishing is one such activity-not fishing in order to supply the immediate sustenance of life, nor fishing as a commercial venture intended to yield a profit. Rather, what Oakeshott is describing is the activity of a trout fisherman by a mountain stream. His casting of the fly into the passing waters is not compulsory, that is, he does not have to catch fish in order to survive. Nor is it directed to any other end, or purpose, for instance, the sale of his catch. It is the activity itself that is enjoyable, the display of skill or perhaps merely passing the time.' In sum, fishing is neither something necessitous (survival) nor externally purposive (market oriented). Let us now draw a few inferences from Oakeshott's account of the activity of fishing. The person engaged in such an activity is not, as such, a fisherman. A fisherman is one who earns a living by means of this activity: He cannot while away his hours at that mountain stream, because his dinner or his earnings depend upon success. Displays of skill in fishing will matter to him only insofar as they yield the desired consequences, a result external to the activity, for example, nutrition or a paycheck. Time, for him, is indeed money (productivity as yield over time) not something merely to be passed. His associates in this activity
Business · Earnings · Economics · Fishing · Fishing village · Neoclassical economics · Order (exchange · Political science · Productivity · Profit (economics · Sociology · Sustenance · Finance · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Theatre and Performance Studies
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1991 - 2025 (35) |
| Highly cited | No |