Abstract:Since the First World War, Marxist philosophy has been dominated by two basic frameworks for understanding Marxism and the world. The first of these frameworks is Marxist-Leninism as it has been devel...Since the First World War, Marxist philosophy has been dominated by two basic frameworks for understanding Marxism and the world. The first of these frameworks is Marxist-Leninism as it has been developed in Soviet philosophy and practice. The second framework is Lukaicsian humanistic Marxism. The ascendency of these two frameworks has its origins in the failure of the Marxism of the Second International. Both Lenin and Lukacs argued that the political failure of the Second International had its roots in the philosophical errors of its leaders. In particular, both Lenin and Lukaics criticized the Marxism of the Second International for its mechanistic and undialectical misconception of Marx's economics and theory of history. Bad philosophy of science contributed to errors in politics. In this respect, Lenin and Lukaics were in agreement. However, in their understanding of dialectics and the proper method for social theory, Lenin and Lukacs were in fundamental disagreement. Where Lenin accepted the dialectics of nature, Lukacs restricted dialectics to processes involving conscious subjects. Where Lenin held a unity of science position with respect to the natural and the social sciences, Lukacs held that social theory required a method distinct from the method of the natural sciences. Where Lenin held that everything which exists is a product of matter in motion, Lukacs rejected this thesis as untenable in post-critical philosophy. Where Lenin held that knowledge was accurate reflection of external reality, Lukacs advanced an epistemology of praxis. The Lukacsian framework provided a foundation for Marxist alternatives to Soviet Marxism such as Critical Theory, Praxis Marxism, and Existential Marxism. By the 1950s the framework had established itself as orthodoxy in Western Marxism.Read More
Publication Year: 1986
Publication Date: 1986-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot