Philosophy & myth in Karl Marx / Robert C. Tucker, with a new introduction by the author.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tucker, Robert C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marx, Karl, 1818-1883.

Marx, Karl.

Physical Description:

263 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Other Title:

Philosophy and myth in Karl Marx

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction Publishers, 2001.

Summary:

In Karl Marx's early writings (first made available many years after his death) his economic interpretation of history and his concept of communism were set in a comprehensive philosophical framework. Marx's main preoccupation at this time was with man estranged from himself in an alienated world: a subjective, almost religious theme.

Taking full account of these earlier writings, Robert Tucker critiques and reinterprets Marx's thought. He shows how its origins can be located in earlier German philosophers, in particular Kant, Hegel, and Feuerbach. Reconstructing the genesis of Marxism in its founder's own mind, he clarifies Marx's mystifying contention that Marxism represented Hegelianism turned "on its head." He then presents a new interpretation, based on close textual analysis, of the relation between Marx's early philosophical system and the subsequent materialist conception of history as expounded in the later and best known writings of Marx and Engels. Against this background, Tucker presents Das Kapital as a work belonging to the post-Hegelian mythical development of German philosophy. Considering, in turn, the genesis of Marxism and the underlying continuity of his thought from the early writings to Das Kapital, Tucker shows the theme of alienation is central throughout.

In the years since the book was first written, comments and criticism have encouraged Tucker to change his position somewhat. This is explained in a new introduction that goes beyond the interpretative enterprise of the rest of the book to assess Marx in relation to contemporary concerns: first it presents a critique of Marx's treatment of alienation and then it comments on the moot problem of the continuing relevance of his social and economic thought. On the latter point his views have matured and altered during the intervening years and he now finds the economic and social aspects of Marx's thought considerably more relevant than he did before.

Contents:

Introduction: Marx in Changing Perspective 11

Part I. The Philosophical Background

I The Self as God In German Philosophy 31

II History as God's Self-Realization 45

III The Dialectic of Aggrandizement 57

Part II. From Hegel to Marx

IV Philosophy Revolts Against the World 73

V Metaphysics as Esoteric Psychology 85

VI Marx and Feuerbach 95

VII The Rise of Philosphical Communism 106

Part III. Original Marxism

VIII Working Man as World Creator 123

IX Alienation and Money-Worship 136

X Communism

The Self Regained 150

Part IV. Mature Marxism

XI Two Marxisms or One? 165

XII The New Materialism 177

XIII Division of Labour and Capital 203

XV The Myth and the Problem of Conduct 218

Conclusion: Marx and the Present Age 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 254-257) and index.

ISBN:

0765806444

OCLC:

45008549