“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.” – from the Preface of The Critique

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“At first Marx critiqued religion philosophically, then he critiqued religion and philosophy politically, and at last he critiqued religion, philosophy, politics, and all other ideologies, economically.” – Karl Lowith

Schedule of Discussions: Early, Mature, and Late Marx

✓ Early – the humanist period: Critique as inversion/hermeneutic

“The entire so-called history of the world is nothing but the begetting of man through human labor.” – Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 

✓ Wk 1 Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

✓ Wk 2 Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

✓ Wk 3 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

✓ Wk 4 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

Mature – the materialist period: Critique as inversion and dialectical analysis

Formation of historical materialism.

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” – Communist Manifesto 

✓ Wk 5 The Communist Manifesto

✓ Wk 6 The German Ideology

✓ Wk 7 The German Ideology

✓ WK 8 Wage-Labor and Capital

Late – the economic period: Critique as dialectical analysis and abstraction

Modern society understood through commodity fetishism and the internal contradictions of capitalism.

“To lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society.” – Capital 

✓ WK 9 A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

✓ WK 10 A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy