KARL MARX: PRAXIS, PROCESS, AND METHOD
KARL MARX: PRAXIS, PROCESS, AND METHOD
Author(s): Kevin M. BrienSubject(s): History of Philosophy, Philosophical Traditions, Special Branches of Philosophy
Published by: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk i Fundacja Filozofia na Rzecz Dialogu
Keywords: concrete universal; dialectic of explanation; dialectic of inquiry; Hegel; historical materialism; internal relations; Marx; method of moving from abstract to concrete; praxis; yin-yang thinking
Summary/Abstract: In Karl Marx’s “Preface” to the second edition of Capital, Volume 1, he famously wrote that with Hegel dialectical thinking is “standing on its head. It must be turned right side up again, if you would discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell.”1 Unfortunately, across a wide spectrum of interpretations of Marxism, there continues to be a great deal of confusion about what Marx means by the “rational kernel” that he discerns within the Hegelian “mystical shell.” But not just a great deal of confusion, but real mystification and distortion of what Marx himself means by dialectical thinking, and especially what a dialectical mode of explanation involves. The concern of this brief paper is to offer some considerations that might open up a clearer conceptual horizon for understanding Marx’s method of dialectical explanation, and the fundamental can-ons of interpretation that are associated with it.
Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
- Issue Year: 2018
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 155-160
- Page Count: 6
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF