“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
“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