Critical Theory, Historical Materialism, and the Ostensible End of Marxism: the Poverty of Theory Revisited
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From: Handbook of Historical Sociology Edited by Gerard Delanty and Engin Isin Sage: London, 2003
From: Handbook of Historical Sociology edited by Gerard Delanty and Engin Isin Sage: London, 2003 (Please cite from published version.) 7. Historical Materialist Sociology and Revolutions George C. Comninel One of the fundamental issues of historical sociology since its origins in historical social theory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been that of a transition between medieval and modern forms of society. There have, indeed, been so many variations on this basic theme that it would scarcely be possible to enumerate them all. What all have in common is the delineation of two contrasting historical social epochs, comprising specific sets of social characteristics as distinctive forms of society, accompanied by some conception of systematic social change from one to the other. The older form of society may not be conceived specifically in relation to the European middle ages, but such a fundamental transition is in every case identified as culminating in, coinciding with, or occurring in the course of a European modern period that opened roughly five hundred years ago. The social forms involved in this transition have been variously described in terms of such as oppositions as ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, ‘feudal’ and ‘capitalist’, ‘agrarian’ and ‘commercial’, ‘simple’ and ‘complex’, and ‘aristocratic’ and ‘bourgeois’. The historical process of change itself has been identified with increased rationalization, desacralization, urbanization, and/or commercialization; development of the division of labour; the rise of a bourgeois class; the growth of capitalism; or some broad amalgam of these and related processes conceived simply as ‘modernization’. This transition has most typically been understood as part of a larger historical process of ‘progress’, a protean concept that has underpinned much social thought during the modern era [Comninel, 1987: 61-74; Wood, 1995: 6-8; Meek, 1976; Butterfield, 1931]. -
The Significance and Shortcomings of Karl Marx
Class, Race and Corporate Power Volume 6 Issue 2 Article 3 2018 The Significance and Shortcomings of Karl Marx Chris Wright Hunter College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Wright, Chris (2018) "The Significance and Shortcomings of Karl Marx," Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 6 : Iss. 2 , Article 3. DOI: 10.25148/CRCP.6.2.008310 Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol6/iss2/3 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Class, Race and Corporate Power by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Significance and Shortcomings of Karl Marx Abstract In this essay I explain both why Karl Marx remains an important thinker and why he is in some respects inadequate. I focus on the central issue of 'materialism vs. idealism,' and briefly explore ways in which contemporary intellectuals still haven't assimilated the insights of historical materialism. In the last section of the paper I examine the greatest weakness of Marxism, its theory of proletarian revolution, and propose an alternative conceptualization that both updates the theory for the twenty-first century and is more faithful to historical materialism than Marx's own conception was. Keywords Karl Marx, Marxism, socialism Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. This article is available in Class, Race and Corporate Power: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/ classracecorporatepower/vol6/iss2/3 I often have occasion to think that, as an “intellectual,” I’m very lucky to be alive at this time in history, at the end of the long evolution from Herodotus and the pre-Socratic philosophers to Chomsky and modern science. -
Base, Superstructure, and Dialectical Totality 43 Seán Mitchell
Base, superstructure, and dialectical totality 43 Seán Mitchell n recent years it became something of a custom to a prognosis that capitalism no longer faced a viable sys- begin any contemporary discussion of historical temic alternative. materialism with a nod to the briefly dominant ax- Much of this pessimism was in fact shared by Fuku- iom that humanity had reached its veritable termi- yama himself, who was ambivalent if not altogether Inus. Capitalism had triumphed over socialism, Francis gloomy about the new world order he heralded, warn- Fukuyama insisted, and the ‘end of history’ was upon ing that ‘the end of history will be a very sad time’ when us. Fukuyama’s bold declaration of historical finality ‘worldwide ideological struggle…will be replaced by could be read in hindsight as little more than neoliberal economic calculation, the endless solving of technical triumphalism, proffered in 1989 as philosophical sus- problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfac- tenance to a U.S. elite then looking forward to carving tion of sophisticated consumer demands.’4 Few on the out a ‘new American century’ in the years ahead. The left were moved by this morose vision of the future, but political trajectory of the author of The End of History too many adopted a kind of inverted pessimism from and the Last Man would arguably confirm that apprais- Fukuyama: if the ‘history of all hitherto existing society al, with Fukuyama collaborating for much of the 1990s is the history of class struggle’, and the working class with an assortment of neo-cons who rose to prominence had been definitively defeated in that epic battle, then around the presidency of George W. -
Materialism and Metaphysics Mcluhan Between Innis and Teilhard De Chardin
Conference: Re-reading McLuhan Bayreuth, Feb. 2007 Hartmut Winkler Materialism and Metaphysics McLuhan between Innis and Teilhard de Chardin. translated by Michael Barchet 1 McLuhan Strictly speaking, my paper shall neither attempt a re-reading nor a novel interpretation of McLuhan. What I am rather interested in, however, is the specific direction media discourse took with McLuhan – especially since this direction is still vivid in our days. Although my paper starts with McLuhan, it actually takes the opposite way from the present back to McLuhan. Let me begin with an irritation. It has caught the attention of many, who have read McLuhan more carefully, and there are countless rather astonished comments: While Understanding Media in 1964 presents a point of view that is relaxed, easy going, ironic and utterly sympathetic with the media in a manner very much of this world, and also refuses for the most part to apply moral considerations, McLuhan’s first book about media, The Mechanical Bride made its points in 1951 by an explicitly judgemental, moral critique of the media.1 His second book made McLuhan more famous than The Mechanical Bride could have ever done, and this was certainly well deserved. Undoubtedly, the new media-friendly attitude must be seen as an achievement and the renunciation of moral considerations may well have made possible a new kind of neutral description. Yet what happened between the two books? How did this switch of positions come to pass, this drastic change of attitude? In his biography2, Marchand notes a turning point in 1953 – years before the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) commissioned McLuhan to conduct the research that would be the basis of Understanding Media.3 Marchand offers a biographical explanation: McLuhan encountered the books by Harold Innis, who had approached the subject of media from the very worldly aspect of economics. -
Priestley and Kant on Materialism
Intellectual History Review ISSN: 1749-6977 (Print) 1749-6985 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rihr20 Priestley and Kant on materialism Udo Thiel To cite this article: Udo Thiel (2020) Priestley and Kant on materialism, Intellectual History Review, 30:1, 129-143 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2020.1688481 © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 19 Dec 2019. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rihr20 INTELLECTUAL HISTORY REVIEW 2020, VOL. 30, NO. 1, 129–143 https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2020.1688481 Priestley and Kant on materialism Udo Thiel Department of Philosophy, University of Graz, Graz, Austria ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Kant maintains in the Critique of Pure Reason that both materialism materialism; soul; and spiritualism cannot explain our existence. This paper argues that consciousness; unity; Kant’s relation to (psychological) materialism is more complex than simplicity; identity; this rejection suggests and is usually thought, and it evaluates this apperception relation in a new and more positive light. The paper shows that Priestley anticipates some of Kant’s arguments against rationalist psychology, and that Kant’s rejection of materialism does not commit him to an immaterialist metaphysics of the soul. These arguments involve a discussion of the problem of the unity of consciousness and of notions such as simplicity and identity. Kant argues in the Critique of Pure Reason that materialism is “incapable” of “explaining my existence”.1,2 Several commentators, including, notably, Henry Allison, take Kant’s rejection of materialism to be a “refutation”, suggesting that Kant attempts to prove that materialism, as a metaphysical thesis, is false. -
Philosophy There Are No Good Objections to Substance Dualism
Philosophy http://journals.cambridge.org/PHI Additional services for Philosophy: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here There are no good objections to substance dualism José Gusmão Rodrigues Philosophy / Volume 89 / Issue 02 / April 2014, pp 199 - 222 DOI: 10.1017/S0031819114000060, Published online: 24 March 2014 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0031819114000060 How to cite this article: José Gusmão Rodrigues (2014). There are no good objections to substance dualism . Philosophy, 89, pp 199-222 doi:10.1017/S0031819114000060 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/PHI, IP address: 129.108.9.184 on 15 Aug 2014 Joint winner of the 2013 Philosophy prize essay competition There are no good objections to substance dualism JOSÉ GUSMÃO RODRIGUES Abstract This article aimsto review the standard objectionsto dualism and to argue that either they will fail to convince someone committed to dualism or are flawed on independent grounds. I begin by presenting the taxonomy of metaphysical positions on concrete par- ticulars as they relate to the dispute between materialists and dualists, and in particular substance dualism is defined. In the first section, several kinds of substance dualism are distinguished and the relevant varieties of this kind of dualism are selected. The re- maining sections are analyses of the standard objections to substance dualism: It is unin- formative, has troubles accounting for soul individuation, causal pairing and interaction, violates laws of physics, is made implausible by the development of neuroscience and it postulates entities beyond necessity. I conclude that none of these objections is successful. -
The Argument from Logical Principles Against Materialism: a Version of the Argument from Reason
University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2019-04-30 The Argument from Logical Principles Against Materialism: A Version of the Argument from Reason Hawkes, Gordon Hawkes, G. (2019). The Argument from Logical Principles Against Materialism: A Version of the Argument from Reason (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110301 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Argument from Logical Principles Against Materialism: A Version of the Argument from Reason by Gordon Hawkes A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN PHILOSOPHY CALGARY, ALBERTA APRIL, 2019 © Gordon Hawkes 2019 i Abstract The argument from reason is the name given to a family of arguments against naturalism, materialism, or determinism, and often for theism or dualism. One version of the argument from reason is what Victor Reppert calls “the argument from the psychological relevance of logical laws,” or what I call “the argument from logical principles.” This argument has received little attention in the literature, despite being advanced by Victor Reppert, Karl Popper, and Thomas Nagel. -
MATERIALISM: a HISTORICO-PHILOSOPHICAL INTRODUCTION Charles Wolfe
MATERIALISM: A HISTORICO-PHILOSOPHICAL INTRODUCTION Charles Wolfe To cite this version: Charles Wolfe. MATERIALISM: A HISTORICO-PHILOSOPHICAL INTRODUCTION. MATERI- ALISM: A HISTORICO-PHILOSOPHICAL, Springer International Publishing, 2016, Springer Briefs, 978-3-319-24818-9. 10.1007/978-3-319-24820-2. hal-01233178 HAL Id: hal-01233178 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01233178 Submitted on 24 Nov 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. MATERIALISM: A HISTORICO-PHILOSOPHICAL INTRODUCTION Forthcoming in the Springer Briefs series, December 2015 Charles T. Wolfe Centre for History of Science Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences Ghent University [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 (Introduction): materialism, opprobrium and the history of philosophy Chapter 2. To be is to be for the sake of something: Aristotle’s arguments with materialism Chapter 3. Chance, necessity and transformism: brief considerations Chapter 4. Early modern materialism and the flesh or, forms of materialist embodiment Chapter 5. Vital materialism and the problem of ethics in the Radical Enlightenment Chapter 6. Naturalization, localization: a remark on brains and the posterity of the Enlightenment Chapter 7. Materialism in Australia: The Identity Theory in retrospect Chapter 8. -
Nietzsche's Naturalism As a Critique of Morality and Freedom
NIETZSCHE’S NATURALISM AS A CRITIQUE OF MORALITY AND FREEDOM A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Nathan W. Radcliffe December, 2012 Thesis written by Nathan W. Radcliffe B.S., University of Akron, 1998 M.A., Kent State University, 2012 Approved by Gene Pendleton____________________________________, Advisor David Odell‐Scott___________________________________, Chair, Department of Philosophy Raymond Craig_____________________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTERS I. NIETZSCHE’S NATURALISM AND ITS INFLUENCES....................................................... 8 1.1 Nietzsche’s Speculative‐Methodological Naturalism............................................ 8 1.2 Nietzsche’s Opposition to Materialism ............................................................... 15 1.3 The German Materialist Influence on Nietzsche................................................. 19 1.4 The Influence of Lange on Nietzsche .................................................................. 22 1.5 Nietzsche’s Break with Kant and Its Aftermath................................................... 25 1.6 Influences on Nietzsche’s Fatalism (Schopenhauer and Spinoza) -
Towards a Unified Theory Analysing Workplace Ideologies: Marxism And
Marxism and Racial Oppression: Towards a Unified Theory Charles Post (City University of New York) Half a century ago, the revival of the womens movementsecond wave feminismforced the revolutionary left and Marxist theory to revisit the Womens Question. As historical materialists in the 1960s and 1970s grappled with the relationship between capitalism, class and gender, two fundamental positions emerged. The dominant response was dual systems theory. Beginning with the historically correct observation that male domination predates the emergence of the capitalist mode of production, these theorists argued that contemporary gender oppression could only be comprehended as the result of the interaction of two separate systemsa patriarchal system of gender domination and the capitalist mode of production. The alternative approach emerged from the debates on domestic labor and the predominantly privatized character of the social reproduction of labor-power under capitalism. In 1979, Lise Vogel synthesized an alternative unitary approach that rooted gender oppression in the tensions between the increasingly socialized character of (most) commodity production and the essentially privatized character of the social reproduction of labor-power. Today, dual-systems theory has morphed into intersectionality where distinct systems of class, gender, sexuality and race interact to shape oppression, exploitation and identity. This paper attempts to begin the construction of an outline of a unified theory of race and capitalism. The paper begins by critically examining two Marxian approaches. On one side are those like Ellen Meiksins Wood who argued that capitalism is essentially color-blind and can reproduce itself without racial or gender oppression. On the other are those like David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch who argue that only an intersectional analysis can allow historical materialists to grasp the relationship of capitalism and racial oppression. -
The Political and Social Thought of Lewis Corey
70-13,988 BROWN, David Evan, 19 33- THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THOUGHT OF LEWIS COREY. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1969 Political Science, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THOUGHT OF LEWIS COREY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By David Evan Brown, B.A, ******* The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by Adviser Department of Political Science PREFACE On December 2 3 , 1952, Lewis Corey was served with a warrant for his arrest by officers of the U, S, Department of Justice. He was, so the warrant read, subject to deportation under the "Act of October 16 , 1 9 1 8 , as amended, for the reason that you have been prior to entry a member of the following class: an alien who is a member of an organi zation which was the direct predecessor of the Communist Party of the United States, to wit The Communist Party of America."^ A hearing, originally arranged for April 7» 1953» but delayed until July 27 because of Corey's poor health, was held; but a ruling was not handed down at that time. The Special Inquiry Officer in charge of the case adjourned the hearing pending the receipt of a full report of Corey's activities o during the previous ten years. [The testimony during the hearing had focused primarily on Corey's early writings and political activities.] The hearing was not reconvened, and the question of the defendant's guilt or innocence, as charged, was never formally settled. -
A Historical-Materialist Response to New Materialism
PSX0010.1177/0032321717731926Political StudiesChoat 731926research-article2017 Article Political Studies 1 –16 Science, Agency and Ontology: © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: A Historical-Materialist sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321717731926DOI: 10.1177/0032321717731926 Response to New Materialism journals.sagepub.com/home/psx Simon Choat Abstract In recent years, the work of a diverse range of thinkers has been grouped together under the label ‘new materialism’. This article offers a critical introduction to new materialism that challenges its understanding of historical materialism. It aims to demonstrate not that historical materialism is superior to new materialism, but rather that the latter would benefit from engaging with rather than ignoring or dismissing the former. It begins by defining new materialism in relation to its reappraisal of science, its concept of agency and its underlying ontology. Second, it locates new materialism by demonstrating how and why many new materialists are hostile to historical materialism. Finally, it responds to new materialist criticisms of historical materialism, arguing both that there are potential areas of agreement between the two materialisms and that historical materialism offers valuable resources for analysing historically specific and asymmetric power relations. Keywords new materialism, historical materialism, science, agency, nature Accepted: 25 August 2016 In the final two decades of the twentieth century, radical Anglophone social and political theory frequently took its cue from post-structuralism, with its emphasis on the discursive and linguistic production of subjectivity. In contrast, numerous commentators have sug- gested that the first few years of this century have witnessed a materialist turn within the humanities and social sciences, with a new interest in the relevance of the material world to social and political concerns (e.g.