Karl Marx and the Actualization of Philosophy

Description

It is indisputable that Marx began his intellectual trajectory as a philosopher, but it is often thought that he subsequently turned away from philosophy. In this book, Christoph Schuringa proposes a radically different reading of Marx's intellectual project and demonstrates that from his earliest writings his aim was the 'actualization' of philosophy. Marx, he argues, should be understood not as turning away from philosophy, but as seeking to make philosophy a practical force in the world. By analysing a series of texts from across Marx's output, Schuringa shows that Marx progressively overcame what he called 'self-sufficient philosophy', not in order to leave philosophy behind but to bring it into its own. This involves a major reinterpretation of Marx's relationship to his ancestors Aristotle, Kant and Hegel, and shows that philosophy, as it actualizes itself, far from being merely a body of philosophical doctrine, figures as an instrument of the revolution. Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Rupture, Abandonment, Actualization Philosophy Marx and Hegel Marx and the Young Hegelians Marx’s Theory of History The Actualization of Philosophy in the Here and Now Outline of the Argument 1 Marx on the History of Ancient Greek Philosophy Marx’s Project in the Notebooks and Difference Hegel and Marx on the History of Ancient Greek Philosophy Marx’s Dialectical Reading of Epicurus’ Atomism The Liberal Party and Positive Philosophy Thought and Reality 2 Marx’s Critique of Hegel: Politics Hegel’s Doctrine of the State Marx’s Route to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right Monarchy and Democracy The Estates and Representation The Bifurcation of the Individual 3 Marx’s Critique of Hegel: Logic Inversion and Mysticism Hegel’s Logical Procedure Hegel’s Plato Diairesis and Dialectic The Critique of Hegel in the Paris Manuscripts 4 Humanism and Naturalism in the Paris Manuscripts Actualization of Philosophy in ‘Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction’ Gattungswesen Humanism = Naturalism Our Wesenskräfte Universality and Individuality 5 From Mere Philosophy to Historical Materialism Critique of Critical Criticism Critique of Feuerbach Historical Materialism Against Pseudo-Hegelianism, for Proletarian Theory 6 Capital: Value, Labour-power, Exploitation, Crisis Capital and Philosophy The Commodity, Use-value, Exchange-value Labour-power and Exploitation Expropriation of the Expropriators Labour Theory of Value The Human 7 Capital: Dialectic Contradiction in Hegel Self-generating Dialectic Opposition and Contradiction Banal Contradictions Marx’s Dialectic in Capital Consciousness of Contradiction Critique of Political Economy Method 8 Actualizing Philosophy The Illimitability of the Object of Philosophy Practical and Theoretical Philosophy ‘Applying’ Philosophy Absolute Idealism and the Actualization of Philosophy Exemplifying the Actualization of Philosophy Bibliography Index