ithout a doubt Karl Marx’ philosophical work had a fundamental impact on “western” concepts of society and economics that still reverberates in Wthe philosophical discourse on Marx. When it comes to analyzing this ongoing discourse it should be noted that due to language barriers the work of Chine- se scholars is underrepresented in this discourse. This book is a translation of Zhang Yibing’s reference work «Back to Marx» fi rst published in 1999 in the PRC. The book is a serious inquiry into the complex interrelationships between Marx‘s political and economic philosophy, based on a very careful and systematic rea- ding of a wide range of textual sources, including—in particular—the newly Zhang Yibing published second edition of the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA2), which collects a large amount of notes, drafts, manuscripts, and excerpts previous- ly unavailable to the scholarly community. The analyses themselves are closely Back to Marx reasoned, subtle, and circumspect. It may best be described as a “dialectics of Marx’s thought” from the fi rst writings in the late 1830s through the 1840s and Changes of through the «Grundrisse» and «Capital». Other than the sharp breaks offered Philosophical by “Western Marxist” commentators such as Althusser the author of this book refl ects both on continuities and discontinuities, surface readings and deep Discourse in the structures, and the interplay of philosophy, history and economics in the various Context of Economics phases of an unfolding theoretical system based throughout on a critique of capitalism. The secondary literature on Marx covers works published in Western Europe and North America, Eastern Europe and Russia (Soviet Union), China and Japan. This kind of coverage is an important contribution in itself and allows non-chinese readers insights into the Chinese reception and interpretation of the international discourse on Marx. The author Prof. Dr. Zhang Yibing teaches philosophy at the Nanjing University and is one of the foremost scholars of Marxism in China, a Marxist analyst of contemporary philosophical issues. At the same time he is the Chancellor of the Nanjing University. Zhang Yibing: Back to Marx — Changes of Philosophical Discourse in the Context Economics Yibing: Back to Marx — Changes Zhang ISBN: 978-3-86395-085-9 Universitätsverlag Göttingen Universitätsverlag Göttingen Zhang Yibing Back to Marx This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence erschienen im Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2014 Zhang Yibing Back to Marx Changes of Philosophical Discourse in the Context of Economics Edited by Oliver Corff Translated by Thomas Mitchell Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2014 Bibliographische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliographie; detaillierte bibliographische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.ddb.de> abrufbar. Address of the Author Address of the Editor Prof. Dr. Zhang Yibing Dr. Oliver Corff Chancellor Wittelsbacherstr. 5 A Nanjing University D-10707 Berlin 22 Hankou Road Email: [email protected] Nanjing Jiangsu 210093 P.R.China E-mail: [email protected] http://www.ptext.cn/zzjg/dep.htm The English text presented here reflects the 2nd edition of the Chinese version “Hui dao Makesi” – “Back to Marx” as published in 2009 by Jiangsu People's Publishing, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. This work is protected by German Intellectual Property Right Law. It is also available as an Open Access version through the publisher’s homepage and the Online Catalogue of the State and University Library of Goettingen (http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de). The conditions of the license terms of the online version apply. Set and Layout: Oliver Corff Cover: Margo Bargheer Cover picture: Karl Marx: Londoner Hefte, Heft II © 2014 Universitätsverlag Göttingen http://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de ISBN: 978-3-86395-085-9 The publication of this book was kindly supported by the Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences 中国国家社会科学基金资助项目 Zhang Yibing (originally named Zhang Yibin), was born in Nanjing in March 1956 although his ancestral home is Chiping in Shandong. In August of 1981, he graduated with a degree in philosophy from Nanjing University. He later went on to receive a doctorate in philosophy, and currently teaches philosophy and tutors doctoral candidates at Nanjing University. He is Chancellor of Nanjing University and director of the Marxist Social Theory Research Center. Additionally, he is a permanent member of the Chinese Academy of Marx-Engels Research, Chinese Academy of Dialectical Materialism, a permanent member of the Chinese Academy of the History of Marxist Philosophy, chairman of the Philosophy Academy of Jiangsu Province, and chairman of the Marxist Academy of Jiangsu Province. His representative works include: Back to Lenin, A Post-textological Reading of ‘Philosophical Notes’ (Jiangsu People’s Press, 2008); The Impossible Truth of Be- ing: Image of Lacanian Philosophy (The Commercial Press, 2006), A Deep Plough Of Texts (Vol. 1, RUC Press, 2004; Vol. 2, RUC Press, 2008); Problematic, Symp- tom Reading and Ideology: A Textological Reading of Althusser (Central Edition and Translation Press, 2003); The Subjective Dimension of Marx’s Historical Di- alectic (Wuhan University Press, 3rd edition, 2010); Atonal Dialectical Fantasia: A Textological Reading of Adorno’s ‘Negative Dialectics’ (Beijing Sanlian Bookstore, 2001). Figure 1: Karl Marx Figure 2: Zhang Yibing posing at Marx’s home in Trier To my beloved father, Zhang Shicheng Contents Editor’s Preface ............................... xi Preface ................................... xv Introduction xxi The Five Great Interpretive Models: From Young Marx to Marxism . xxii Philosophical Evaluations of The Three Types of Text in Marx’s The- oretical Writing . xxix The Three Theoretical High Points in the Development of Marxist Philosophy . xxxv 1 The Subsidiary Awareness of Young Marx’s Early Exposure to Eco- nomics 1 1.1 The First Hidden Clue: The Latent Philosophical Framework of Early Political Economy ....................... 1 1.2 The Second Hidden Clue: Hegel’s Affirmation and Transcendence of Classical Economics ........................ 34 1.3 The Third Hidden Clue: Economic Philosophical Logic in Direct Opposition to Bourgeois Society . 54 2 Philosophical Discourse in the Context of Economics: From Silence to Prominence 91 2.1 From Kreuznach Notes to Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right 91 2.2 The Textual Structure and Context of Paris Notes . 103 2.3 A Study of the Excerpted Text in Paris Notes . 115 2.4 “Excerpts from James Mill’s Elements of Political Economy”: The Appearance of Humanistic Discourse in Economics Criticism . 127 3 Dual Discourse: From a Humanist Labor-alienation Conception of His- tory towards Objective Economic Reality 143 3.1 A Basic Overview of the 1844 Manuscript . 143 3.2 Towards a Humanist Phenomenological Criticism Based on Social Truth ................................. 153 3.3 A Dominant Discourse and a Complex, Latent Logical Paradox . 168 3.4 Young Marx’s Second Critique of Hegel . 189 ix 4 Empirical Texts on the Eve of the Marxist Philosophical Revolution 203 4.1 The Theoretical Alliance of Socialism and Materialism . 203 4.2 Non-strategy: The Subintentional Overthrow of Humanist Logic 220 4.3 The Exceptional Thought Experiment in Marx’s Move Towards Philosophical Revolution . 239 4.4 The Gestalt Shift in Theses on Feuerbach . 247 5 The Theoretical Frame of Reference of Marx’s New Philosophical Per- spective 261 5.1 New Developments in the Second Phase of Marx’s Economics Research ................................ 261 5.2 The Alliance of Classical Economics and Socialism . 269 5.3 Max Stirner’s The Ego and His Own . 286 6 The Construction of Marx’s Scientific Worldview 299 6.1 The Textual and Discourse Structure of The German Ideology . 299 6.2 The Historical Existence and Essence of the New Outlook of Marxist Philosophy . 316 6.3 Division of Labor and Real World History: A Real, Critical Dis- course in Economics . 336 7 The Final Outlook of Marx’s Philosophical Revolution 355 7.1 The New Starting Point of Marx’s Scientific, Critical Theory . 355 7.2 The Earliest Unity of Historical Materialism and Political Economy 370 8 Grundrisse and Historical Materialism 389 8.1 London Notes and Grundrisse . 389 8.2 The Textual Structure of Grundrisse . 398 8.3 The Placement of the Philosophical Logic of Grundrisse . 401 8.4 “Abstract to Concrete” Methodology and Historical Materialism . 418 9 Historical Phenomenology in the Context of Economics 435 9.1 The Logic and Historical Analysis of the Essence of the Capitalist Economy and Phenomenological Inversion . 435 9.2 Capital: The True Relation Underlying Exchange . 462 9.3 Capital: A Mature Expression of Historical Phenomenology . 482 Appendix 495 Timeline of Marx’s Important Scholarly Research and Texts . 495 A Brief Introduction of MEGA . 510 Bibliography ................................ 524 Index 561 Afterword 565 x Editor’s Preface Introduction Karl Marx (1818-1883) is perhaps the single most influential philosopher, writer and political activist of the 19th century. His ideas have shaped the course of mod- ern history and have affected deeply the livelihood of millions of people around the globe. In numerous countries, including China, one of the most populous nations on earth, political systems and socio-economic orders have been established with reference to his name and thought. Given