Currently Reading: The Footnote: A Curious History Anthony Grafton
History and Class Consciousness Georges Lukacs: "Class Consciousness"
Hegel: The Essential Writings Frederick G. Weiss, ed.: "What is Philosophy?"; "Dialectic and Human Experience: The Phenomenology of Spirit"
Just Finished: The American Teenager Robin Bowman
History and Class Consciousness Georges Lukacs: "What is Orthodox Marxism?"
Despite my mid-week existential crisis, I was actually able to reread and digest Lukacs. So I want to do a quick summary post as kind of a snapshot of my understanding as it stands now before I move on to "Class Consciousness" and then (gulp) Hegel. Plus, today, I impulsively bought an equestrian riding helmet today, so I'm in a stellar mood.
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Orthodox Marxism is not blind acceptance of Marx's conclusions, thesis, etc. It is simply adherence to Marx's method of dialectical materialism and belief in its completeness.
Section 1:
Marx's theory of dialectical materialism (diamat) is inherently revolutionary. This is very important. However, for this revolutionary tendency to be realized, for theory to yield any tangible results, theory and practice must converge. But this has to be a conscious convergence; theory is only there to illuminate the path by which it is possible. Additionally, for diamat's revolutionary potential to be realized, a historical situation must exist in which a class of society becomes both the subject and object of knowledge i.e. it must understand itself in order to understand society and assert itself. In our time, the proletariat is this class.
Now to diamat. Diamat is a worldview that sharply opposes the one proffered by capitalism. Diamat is a system in which concepts are not discrete entities with definite contours and are involved in fluid interaction instead of having a one-sided causal relationship. Yet the most revolutionary argument put forth by diamat is that the relationship between objects and their subjective meanings is a historical product. This allows something that metaphysics does not: it allows for the object to be altered so reality can be changed.
As a method, diamat is perfect and any attempt at critique simply weakens it. All criticism inevitably proceeds from a point of separation between thought and existence, the foundation of "true scientific rigor" founded on metaphysical methodology. However, it is this very separation that diamat seeks to transcend. As a result, any attempt to critique or modify diamat will only distort the system.
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Alright, assuming I wanted to jumpstart back into the realm of philosophy with "true scientific rigor," who/what/where would you recommend I start with?
ReplyDeleteYour jazz starter package is en route (sorry for the delay!).
I like modern philosophy better. I'm not much for idealism and it seems to account for human nature a more than classical philosophy. But I think it's important to understand the classics so you're versed in the tradition to which modern philosophers are responding.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm not an expert in any sense. Not even an amateur. I just dabble from time to time.
But I'd probably recommend you start with Socrates, then Plato then Aristotle as they're foundational to Western philosophy.
You can then move forward, chronologically, from there. I'm sprung on Nietzsche as of late, but Hume, Locke, and Kant are important to read as well.
Oh, and Marx!! Read Marx!!