On turning theory against itself
TL;DR: In fact, the history of the Second and Third Internationals can be traced back to Marx's Theses on Feuerbach as mentioned in this paper, where he argued that philosophy cannot be realized without its abolition.
Abstract: Thoughtlessness continues to be one of the outstanding characteristics of our time. Even Marxism has failed to reflect critically on the conditions of our social existence so as to demystify them. Its frequent call for the abolition of the "separation" of theory from practice has been quite consistent with this thoughtlessness. 1 But the Marxist tradition has usually been more silent about a more subversive theme, namely, the history of Marxism as the history of attempts to collapse the critical tension between theory and practice. Plekhanov's attempt to sacrifice theory before its empirical object ("..the march of ideas is explained by the march of things, the march of thought by the march of life") is but a crude and extreme case of this for, as Jacoby has shown, such "automatic Marxism" was a powerful influence throughout the whole of the Second and Third Internationals.2 This automatism expressed Marxism's enslavement to the creeping rationalization of the twentieth century bourgeois world. Yet one source of this objectivist urge within Marxism can also be traced directly to Marx himself. This is the legacy not only of Marx's classification of his critique of liberal capitalism with the natural sciences; it is equally the legacy of the finale of the Theses on Feuerbach: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is, to change it." Marx's thesis that philosophy cannot be realized without its abolition remained thoroughly ambiguous. It was not at all certain whether he intended the abolition of all hitherto existing philosophy, or whether every past, present and future philosophy was also to be abandoned. Through this ambiguity, the very status of Marxist theory has
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TL;DR: In the last decade, the works of Habermas have found a receptive audience in the English-speaking world as well as discussed by the authors, where they have become the object of critical discussions in political theory, sociology, philosophy, education, social psychology, and speech communication.
Abstract: Jiirgen Habermas may be, as a recent commentator asserted, the dominant intellectual figure in contemporary Germany. But in the last decade, the works of Habermas have found a receptive audience in the English-speaking world as well. Building upon the insights of Marxist social theory, Continental hermeneutic phenomenology, and Anglo-American linguistic philosophy, Habermas has attempted to construct a comprehensive critical theory of society. As a result, his work has broad implications for the entire range of humanities and social sciences. Habermas’ theories are now the object of critical discussions in political theory, sociology, philosophy, education, social psychology, and speech communication. Because Habermas’s project touches such a variety of disciplines, his own writing and critical discussions of it are spread throughout a disparate array of professional books and journals. Consequently, a reader wishing to comprehend Habermas’ thought and its influence has faced a difficult task in locating all relevant materials. This problem was partially erased by Thomas McCarthy, TIre Critical Theory of Jiirgen Hubennus (Cambridge, MA MIT Press, 1978), pp. 441-445, who provided a fairly thorough listing of Habermas’ books and articles in German and English. The present bibliography is intended to remedy the problem completely by cataloging the critical treatments and extensions of his work which have appeared in Europe, North America, and elsewhere since 1964. Included here are books, book chapters, articles, dissertations, conference papers, and book reviews in
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new theory of praxis through communicative action is proposed, which is based on Habermas' theory of communicative actions, and it is shown to be effective in many problems.
Abstract: (1983). HABERMAS: A new theory of praxis through communicative action? Communicatio: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 9-14.
1 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, Braverman analyzes the division of labour between the design and execution of industrial production, which underlies all our social arrangements, and provides insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology.
Abstract: First published in 1974, this text is written in a direct way by Harry Braverman, whose years spent as an industrial worker gave him insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology. Here, he analyzes the division of labour between the design and execution of industrial production, which underlies all our social arrangements. This new edition features a new introduction by John Bellamy Foster, setting the work in historical and theoretical context, as well as two more articles by Harry Braverman.
3,449 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1974
TL;DR: In this paper, Braverman analyzes the division of labour between the design and execution of industrial production, which underlies all our social arrangements, and provides insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology.
Abstract: First published in 1974, this text is written in a direct way by Harry Braverman, whose years spent as an industrial worker gave him insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology. Here, he analyzes the division of labour between the design and execution of industrial production, which underlies all our social arrangements. This new edition features a new introduction by John Bellamy Foster, setting the work in historical and theoretical context, as well as two more articles by Harry Braverman.
3,044 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that self-expression in work must at best be a luxury reserved for the very few regardless of social and economic organization, and even the satisfactions of society's elite must be perverted by their dependence on their dependence, with rare exception, on the denial of selfexpression to others.
1,135 citations