Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The German Ideology: Including Thesis on Feuerbach (Great Books in Philosophy) by Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx ISBN: 1-57392-258-7 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: December, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A philosophical romp with the "young Marx"
Comment: The fashionable revisions and reifications of Hegel (the "official" political theory of Germany) common to Marx's era filled him with such disgust that he and Engels penned an entire rhetoric-laced diatribe against them, "The German Ideology." This book served, for Marx and his sidekick, not only as a materialist attack on Hegelian idealism and its conceptions of history, but also served, in their words, as a "self-clarification" of their own stances on a number of issues. Foremost among these issues is the actual role of the political philosopher in society and in history. Indeed, Marx is directly referring to the legacy of his Hegelian contemporaries when he says that "philosophers have only interpreted the world . . . the point, however, is to change it."
Marx departs from Hegel and his latter-day followers (whether revolutionary or conservative) in both method and in goals. As far as methodology is concerned, Marx is an empiricist of a certain normatively world-changing brand, which obviously leaves him open to critiques from "pure" empiricism as being either an outright determinist (an obviously abhorrent concept to the entire Humean tradition) or else being merely a moral philosopher in scientist's clothing.
As for goals, while some of Hegel's followers might share a certain revolutionary telos with Marx, they cannot truly be his comrades because for Marx the revolutionary method (historical materialism) is inseparable from the revolutionary goal (communism); that is, communism cannot by nature be an "ideal" . . . "to which reality will have to adjust itself" (as it is for the Hegelians). Instead, the ideal of communism must adjust itself to reality (thus becoming no longer an ideal), and that is precisely Marx's project as expressed in the 11th Thesis on Feuerbach: through his writings, to "adjust" the real world to his view of the way it's going to be (by writing about the world the way that it has been, and the way that it is now).
Rating: 4
Summary: A vital early work, but not a complete picture of Marx.
Comment: First of all, the correct title would refer to the THESES on Feuerbach, of which there are eleven. These are terse exhortations, which Marx apparently wrote out for himself as a reminder of principles, not intended for publication. They remain brilliant and challenging to readers. The rest of the volume is taken up by *excerpts* from the vast manuscript on the German Ideology, which is an uneven early work of Marx and Engels. There are brilliant passages, crucial to Marxist thought, but there's also a lot of directionless vitriol directed at now relatively unimportant thinkers.
I disagree with the previous reviewer -- this is not an ideal intro to Marxism. Read the Communist Manifesto, then move on to the Eighteenth Brumaire, or this, or Capital, or the early works.
And by the way, get the International Publishers edition if you can find it.
Rating: 5
Summary: interested in marx? you gots to read this!
Comment: the first part of this book, on feuerbach, lays out marx's conception of history, and is, for me, the best brief description of marxism available. this impacted me much more profoundly than the communist manifesto. anyway, i'd read the first part, and then skip the rest. in the latter part of the book, he does battle with forgotten german intellectuals (the part on max stirner might be worth reading), mostly upbraiding them for their idealistic view of the world. the essence of this critique, however, is dealt with in the part on feuerbach. seriously, if you'd like to know what marx is all about, but aren't sure than you're ready to commit to reading capital, read the 70 pages or so on feuerbach. if you do, feel free to e-mail me & let me know what you think.
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
