A Marxist Educated Kant: Philosophy of History in Kant and the Frankfurt School

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-540
Author(s):  
Hauke Brunkhorst
Keyword(s):  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Moral Autonomy ◽  
90Th Birthday ◽  
The Many

AbstractIn a lecture that Habermas gave on his 90th birthday he ironically, but with serious intent, called a good Kant a sufficiently Marxist educated Kant. This dialectical Kant is the only one of the many Kants who maintains the idea of an unconditioned moral autonomy but completely within evolution, history and in the middle of societal class and other struggles. The article tries to show what Kant could have learned from his later critics to enable him to become a member of the Frankfurt School’s neo-Marxist theory of society.

Individuality and Beyond

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedetta Zavatta
Keyword(s):  
Moral Autonomy ◽  
First Line ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Individual Personality ◽  
The World ◽  
Regulative Ideal ◽  
Personal Library ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Based on an analysis of the marginal markings and annotations Nietzsche made to the works of Emerson in his personal library, the book offers a philosophical interpretation of the impact on Nietzsche’s thought of his reading of these works, a reading that began when he was a schoolboy and extended to the final years of his conscious life. The many ideas and sources of inspiration that Nietzsche drew from Emerson can be organized in terms of two main lines of thought. The first line leads in the direction of the development of the individual personality, that is, the achievement of critical thinking, moral autonomy, and original self-expression. The second line of thought is the overcoming of individuality: that is to say, the need to transcend one’s own individual—and thus by definition limited—view of the world by continually confronting and engaging with visions different from one’s own and by putting into question and debating one’s own values and certainties. The image of the strong personality that Nietzsche forms thanks to his reading of Emerson ultimately takes on the appearance of a nomadic subject who is continually passing out of themselves—that is to say, abandoning their own positions and convictions—so as to undergo a constant process of evolution. In other words, the formation of the individual personality takes on the form of a regulative ideal: a goal that can never be said to have been definitively and once and for all attained.

The Multitude and the Many-Headed Hydra: Autonomist Marxist Theory and Labor History

2013 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 170-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verity Burgmann
Keyword(s):  
Labor History ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Internal Momentum ◽  
Autonomist Marxism ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many

AbstractThe autonomist Marxist critique of determinist Marxism offers even more valuable insights for labor historians than that mounted by earlier antideterminists, such as Sartre and Thompson, who emphasized proletarian agency to counter determinist orthodoxy in which the accumulative logic of capital unilaterally shapes the world. Autonomist Marxism is more far-reaching. It places labor at the very beginning of the labor-capital dialectic: Labor can exist independently of capital, but capital needs to command labor to ensure profit; therefore, capitalist development does not occur due to internal momentum but in reaction to labor's tendency to unloose itself from capital. Linebaugh and Rediker offer a similar hypothesis in exploring the myth of the many-headed hydra—and demonstrate the fruitfulness of such an approach. By contrast, the notion of the multitude in Hardt and Negri'sEmpirehas not been well received by labor historians due to its inexplicable abstraction when read in isolation from other autonomist texts. This article attempts to rescue the ideas of autonomist Marxist philosophers, especially Toni Negri, from the enormous condescension of labor history.

Jerzy Topolski’s Marxist Anthropocentrism

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Ewa Domańska ◽  
Paul Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Collective Agency ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
Separate Discipline

Abstract In this article I demonstrate that the ideas outlined in Jerzy Topolski’s Methodology of History (Polish 1968, English translation 1976) could not only offer a reference point for and indeed enrich ongoing debates in the philosophy of history, but also help to set directions for future developments in the field. To support my argument, I focus on two themes addressed in Topolski’s work: 1) the understanding of the methodology of history as a separate discipline and its role both in defending the autonomy of history and in creating an integrated knowledge of the past, which I read here through the lens of the current merging of the humanities and natural sciences; and 2) the role of a Marxist anthropocentrism based on the notion of humans as the creators of history, which I consider here in the context of the ongoing critique of anthropocentrism. I point to the value of continuing to use concepts drawn from Marxist vocabulary, such as alienation, emancipation, exploitation and overdetermination, for interpreting the current state of the world and humanity. I stress that Marxist anthropocentrism, with its support for individual and collective agency, remains crucial to the creation of emancipatory theories and visions of the future, even if it has faced criticism for its Eurocentrism and might seem rather familiar and predictable when viewed in the context of the contemporary humanities. Nevertheless, new manifestations of Marxist theory, in the form of posthumanist Marxism and an interspecies historical materialism that transcends anthropocentrism, might play an important role in redefining the humanities and humanity, including its functions and tasks within human and multispecies communities.

Hegel's Critique of the Triumph of Verstand in Modernity

1997 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 54-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Houlgate
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
The People ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Revolution

In his lectures on the philosophy of history Hegel passes this famous judgement on the French Revolution. “Anaxagoras had been the first to say that nous governs the world; but only now did humanity come to recognize that thought should rule spiritual actuality. This was thus a magnificent dawn”. What first gave rise to discontent in France, in Hegel's view, were the heavy burdens that pressed upon the people and the government's inability to procure for the Court the means of supporting its luxury and extravagance. But soon the new spirit of freedom and enlightenment began to stir in men's minds and carry them forward to revolution. “One should not, therefore, declare oneself against the assertion”, Hegel concludes, “that the Revolution received its first impulse from Philosophy” (VPW, p 924). However, Hegel points out that the legacy of the revolution is actually an ambiguous one. For, although the principles which guided the revolution were those of reason and were indeed magnificent – namely, that humanity is born to freedom and self-determination – they were held fast in their abstraction and turned “polemically”, and at times terribly, against the existing order (VPW, p 925). What ultimately triumphed in the revolution was thus not concrete reason itself, but abstract reason or understanding (VPW, p 923). In Hegel's view, the enduring legacy of such revolutionary understanding was, not so much the Terror, but the principle that “the subjective wills of the many should hold sway” (VPW, p 932). This principle, which Hegel calls the principle of “liberalism” and which we would call the principle of majority rule, has since spread from France to become one of the governing principles of modern stat. It has been used to justify granting universal suffrage, to justify depriving corporations and the nobility of the right to sit in the legislature, and in some cases to justify abolishing the monarchy. What is of crucial importance for Hegel, however, is that such measures have not rendered the state more modern and rational, but have in fact distorted the modern state.

A CONSTITUIÇÃO HISTÓRICA DA SUBJETIVIDADE NAS REVISÕES DA TEORIA HEGELIANA

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (136) ◽  
pp. 305
Author(s):  
Humberto Schubert Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Parallel Analysis ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
The Many ◽  
Theories Of Subjectivity

Resumo: Não apenas pela natureza sistemática do projeto hegeliano como pela importância que a teoria da subjetividade inconfundivelmente assume para ele, a filosofia da história, como outros elementos, não pode ser satisfatoriamente compreendida sem uma análise conjunta do caráter histórico da subjetividade. Uma vez que subjetividade e intersubjetividade se sustentam e justificam mutuamente, toda teoria da história é sempre e necessariamente também uma teoria sobre as biografias, individuais, e as formas da cultura, das coletividades. Ao passo que estes finitos não produzem o todo, o todo tem de poder ser neles encontrado, de maneira que os princípios gerais, como o da história, estão sempre implícitos nos sujeitos e suas comunidades específicas. Somente assim entende-se que a filosofia da história é capaz de resistir às muitas críticas de anulação da individualidade e da incerteza quanto ao destino, oriunda do livre-arbítrio humano. Apresentaremos, portanto, alguns dos intérpretes contemporâneos do hegelianismo buscando enfatizar suas teorias da subjetividade como imprescindíveis para esboços de filosofia da história que preencham os critérios mais atuais.Abstract: Not only for the systematic nature of the Hegelian Project but also for the importance that the theory of subjectivity unmistakably assumes for Hegel, the philosophy of history, as well as other elements, cannot be understood satisfactorily without a parallel analysis of the historical character of subjectivity. Since subjectivity and intersubjectivity are mutually supportive, any theory about history is consequently and necessarily also a theory of biographies (individuality) and of the forms of culture (collectivity). Although these finitudes do not make the whole, the whole has to be found in them, so that the general principles, like history, are always implicit in individuals and specific communities. This seems to be the only way the philosophy of history can resist the many charges of annihilation of individual freedom and the uncertainty of destiny deriving from human free-will. Thus, we will present some contemporary Hegelian interpreters, in order to highlight their theories of subjectivity as instrumental to outline a philosophy of history that meet the more recent criteria.

Arthur von Hippel: The Man Behind the Von Hippel Award

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.S. Dresselhaus
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Research Society ◽  
Early Years ◽  
90Th Birthday ◽  
Opening Ceremony ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Birthday Celebration ◽  
The Many ◽  
People Today

The Von Hippel Award, the most prestigious award of the Materials Research Society was first presented to its namesake, Arthur von Hippel, in 1976. On November 19, 1988, Prof. von Hippel celebrated his 90th birthday, an appropriate occasion to look back on a lifetime of achievement. Through the many testimonials that were heard at his 90th birthday celebration from family, friends, former students and colleagues, emerged a picture of materials science that reflects much that we treasure as the fabric of the Materials Research Society, namely the interdisciplinary approach to materials research.It has become an annual tradition of MRS to celebrate the achievement of the Von Hippel Award winner, and each year the celebrants begin the ceremony with an affirmation of the efficacy of the interdisciplinary approach. In the early years of the Von Hippel Award, our young students often heard greetings from Prof. von Hippel himself during the opening ceremony. But as the size of the meetings has grown, it has become increasingly difficult for “The Professor” to offer personal greetings. Many young people today yearn for contact with their intellectual heritage. Inspired by this need, the leadership of MRS recommended that a brief article be written for the MRS BULLETIN on reminiscences about Prof. Arthur von Hippel and his legacy of the interdisciplinary approach to materials research.

Beautiful City, Lawful Empire, Rational State

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-110
Author(s):  
Will D. Desmond
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Ancient Ethics ◽  
Philosophy Of Right ◽  
The Many ◽  
Beautiful City ◽  
Innovative Concept

Hegel’s exposition of the ‘rational’ state in The Philosophy of Right draws on ancient ethics, politics, and history, and cannot be fully understood without reference to his Lectures on the Philosophy of History. This chapter seeks to explore the many ‘moments of antiquity’ in the Philosophy of Right, when ancient practices or ideas infiltrate Hegel’s more abstract analysis of ethico-political phenomena. It does so by following the tripartite division of the Philosophy of Right: for example, the analysis of property in ‘Abstract Right’ is incomplete without appreciating Hegel’s response to ancient forms of slavery and the Roman ‘law of things’; the second section on ‘Morality’ is primarily Kantian, yet is also implicitly in dialogue with Socratic thinkers for its evaluation of virtue, the Good, and conscience; finally, Hegel’s innovative concept of ‘Ethical Life’ is significantly indebted to his understanding of the Greek and Roman families, ancient constitutional arrangements, and Justinian’s Code. Turning from these and other ‘moments of antiquity’, the chapter then offers a more continuous presentation and evaluation of Hegel’s understanding of Greek and Roman histories, explaining how his concept of the ‘beautiful’ Greek polis and ‘lawful’ Roman empire were for him the two historically necessary stages in the development of the modern ‘rational state’.

scholarly journals MEMBEDAH TEORI KRITIS MAZHAB FRANKFURT : SEJARAH, ASUMSI, DAN KONTRIBUSINYA TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN TEORI ILMU SOSIAL

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Umar Sholahudin
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Marxian Analysis ◽  
Critical Social

This article aims to examine the critical theory of the Fraknfurt school, especially those related to its history, concepts, assumptions, and contributions. Historically-geneologically, critical theory was born from the womb of Marxist theory. Although born from the womb of Marxist theory, critical theory is not too satisfied with the analysis of the Marxians who are considered too mechanistic economic determinism in seeing the social reality of Western capitalist society. According to critical theory, the Marxian analysis in viewing and analyzing the inequality of the reality of capitalist society in Europe is too reductionist, that is, it is the economic factor (structure) that determines socio-economic inequality or class conflict in a capitalist society. The critical theory developed by the people who call themselves Neo-Maxians, exists to further develop the classical Marxian analysis, which rests not only on economic factors, but also on other socio-economic factors. The Frankfurt school of critical social theory thought services pioneered by Horkheimer, however, has provided a relatively new (though not very new) theoretical perspective in seeing, understanding and analyzing social reality. This critical social theory perspective has contributed significantly to the development of social theory. One of them is that critical theory has contributed to the development of critical and emancipatory awareness of human practice in seeing social realities that are full of inequality and injustice.Keyword : Critical Theory, Frankfurt School, History, Development of Social Theory

scholarly journals Rebranded Philosophy of History

rth | ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
Helio Rebello Cardoso Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Theory Of History ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

This article focuses on the one of the many outcomes of the so-called rebranded philosophy of history, namely, the continuity-discontinuity issue. Eelco Runia’s, Noël Bonneuil’s and Paul A. Roth’s conceptions of historical time will be analyzed as representative of this subject in the landscape of the theory of history from 2010 on. The authors sampled not only provide the evidence that historical discontinuity remains alive as a theoretical and historiographical challenge, but they also disclose different arrays to think the relationship among past, present, and future, and historical transformation. The concepts of historical time analyzed recall Foucault’s discontinuously-base model of thinking historical time and add to it different varieties of historical discontinuity. Moreover, the continuity-discontinuity issue in the new backdrop involves operation of translating time into space (spatialization of time). As a result, the discontinuously-based model of historical time’s main characteristics will be summarized and its strength as a heuristic tool for further analyses of the concepts of historical time is outlined.

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