Abstract: This chapter investigates the ontological and epistemological assumptions that inform Marx's selection of empirical domains and his approach to studying them. What identifies social-scientific abstraction is the way ontological assumptions translate into epistemological practices. What makes Marx's social-scientific abstraction unique is that the philosophy of internal relations extends itself into his epistemology, making his ontology and epistemology intermesh. Marx's approach to uniting his ontological and epistemological assumptions is often understood as a form of naturalism. Marx holds that labor is universally important and is therefore valid as a sociological category. Marx's approach to teleology and evolutionary models brings us back to the issue of appearance and essence and the traditional reading of Marx's so-called theory of history. Marx believes that only by uniting historical, dialectical, materialist, and scientific methods can an adequate grasp of these collective realities be achieved.Keywords: Marx; onto-epistemological assumptions; social-scientific abstraction; teleology
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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