When Spinoza met Marx : experiments in nonhumanist activity / Tracie Matysik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matysik, Tracie, author.

Series:

The Life of Ideas

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677--Influence.

Spinoza, Benedictus de.

Philosophy, German--19th century.

Philosophy, German.

Determinism (Philosophy).

Communism and philosophy.

Act (Philosophy).

Germany--Intellectual life--19th century.

Germany.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (353 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Illinois ; London, England : The University of Chicago Press, [2022]

Summary:

Explores concepts that bring together the thinking of Spinoza and Marx. Karl Marx was a fiery revolutionary theorist who heralded the imminent demise of capitalism, while Spinoza was a contemplative philosopher who preached rational understanding and voiced skepticism about open rebellion. Spinoza criticized all teleological ideas as anthropomorphic fantasies, while Marxism came to be associated expressly with teleological historical development. Yet socialists of the German nineteenth-century were consistently drawn to Spinoza as their philosophical guide. Tracie Matysik shows how the metaphorical meeting of Spinoza and Marx arose out of an intellectual conundrum about the meaning of activity. How is it, exactly, that humans can be fully determined creatures and also able to change their world? To address this paradox, many revolutionary theorists came to think of activity in the sense of Spinoza-as relating. Matysik follows these Spinozist-socialist intellectual experiments as they unfolded across the nineteenth century, drawing lessons from them that may be meaningful for the contemporary world.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Abbreviations, Citational Shortcuts, and a Note on Translation

Preface

Introduction: When Spinoza Met Marx, or Activity in a Nonhumanist Key

Chapter 1 The Headless Revolution: Heinrich Heine's Ethos of "Vigorous Repose"

Chapter 2 Love and Friendship: Berthold Auerbach and Moses Hess on Understanding and Activity

Chapter 3 When Marx Met Spinoza: Determination, Contingency, and Substance

Chapter 4 Spinoza against Bismarck, or Johann Jacoby and the Pursuit of Monist Democracy

Chapter 5 An Ethics of Natural Necessity: Jakob Stern, Fr e e Thought, and German Social Democracy

Chapter 6 What Is "Nature"? Georgi Plekhanov and the Dilemmas of Consistent Materialism

Conclusion: The Persistence of Vigorous Repose

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-226-82234-6

OCLC:

1357019000