Free Downloads The Two Marxisms: Contradictions And Anomalies In The Development Of Theory (The Dark Side Of The Dialectic; V. 3) (His The Dark Side Of The Dialectic; V. 3)

                
              
Free Downloads 
The Two Marxisms: Contradictions And Anomalies In The Development Of Theory (The Dark Side Of The Dialectic; V. 3) (His The Dark Side Of The Dialectic; V. 3)
This is a hardcover copy with dustjacket.
Series: His the Dark Side of the Dialectic; V. 3
Hardcover: 397 pages
Publisher: Seabury Press; 1st edition (November 1982)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0816491380
ISBN-13: 978-0816491384
Product Dimensions:  0.5 x 6.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review:  4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
Best Sellers Rank: #383,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)   #496 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Ideologies & Doctrines > Communism & Socialism   #40090 in Books > Business & Money
The influential 20th century sociologist Alvin Gouldner divided contemporary Marxists into two camps, humanistic and scientific. Gouldner's dichotomy is certainly not the only way to clarify distinctions among Marxist thinkers, activists, and revolutionaries, but it corresponds closely to the better known classification scheme that characterizes Marxists as either humanists or determinists.Consistent with Gouldner's categories, the humanists are interested in philosophical issues such as alienation, the perversion of human beings' near-infinite capacity for development and self-acutalization by an alien context fraught with oppression and self-defeating ideology. The humanists take great interest in Marx's early writings, especially the Economic and Philosophic Manuscsripts of 1844. This document provided an important point of departure for the critical philosopher Herbert Marcus, author of the oft-cited classic One Dimensional Man.Though a humanist, Marcuse's focus was on a social system that was structured to trick people into believing they were free by providing a seemingly endless list of choices in the form of opportunities for consumption. Rather than enabling people to realize their near-infinite potential for development, for self-realization, for transcending the status quo, technology-intensive productivity and readily available credit created a kind of person who was incapable of going beyond things as they were.Freedom, in this view, was nothing more than freedom to participate in a pre-determined way that maintains late capitalism. The trap of repressive desublimation -- undisciplined material and sexual consumption in the guise of freedom -- provides a conceptual link between freedom and determinism. Individuals make choices, but once again, the choices are contextually determined. During the relatively prosperous period from 1946 through 1972, Marcuse's interpretation seemed especially compelling. That's one reason why he was an iconic figure during the 1960's.The turn to Gouldner's scientific Marxism can best be construed as a shift in emphasis. Scientific Marxists are little concerned with any concrete individual, focusing instead on a rigidly deterministic contextual framework wherein the notion of free will makes no sense except as a plausible and convenient fraud. In this latter view, people exist only as manifestations of relationships, and in capitalist society these relationships are, first and foremost, exploitative relations of production, with capital extracting surplus value from labor.For scientific Marxists, efforts at piecemeal reform are hopelessly misguided. Transforming an entire social system is the only way to make life better. Moreover, they are convinced that they know how to do it. For them, after all, Marxism is an established science that has produced demonstrably useful knowledge, not merely a philosophical perspective or conceptual framework for further research. For scientific Marxists, it would have been better if Marx's early work had never been written.Nevertheless, it still seems that theoretical differences between humanistic and scientific Marxists have been greatly exaggerated, often as not by the two conflicting schools. The really interesting and enduring aspects of Marx's work are common to both. Is it really necessary, after all, to explicitly emphasize that human beings who serve only as props or supports are alienated? Similarly, is it necessary to conspicuously acknowledge that human-being-as-props are denied the chance to become fully developed and self-aware?Even if humanists such as the British Marxist historian E.P Thompson insist on the existence of free will, if social circumstances are exploitative, oppressive, and restrict the development of human potential, what is the point? Given this set of circumstances, how much difference is there really between those who hold that human beings' consciousness is not determined entirely by their circumstances, and those who hold that it is?
The Two Marxisms: Contradictions and Anomalies in the Development of Theory (The Dark Side of the Dialectic; V. 3) (His the Dark Side of the Dialectic; V. 3) Between the Dark and the Daylight: Embracing the Contradictions of Life Dialectic of Enlightenment (Cultural Memory in the Present) Integrated Theory & Knowledge Development in Nursing, 8e (Chinn, Integrated Theory and Knowledge Development in Nursing) His Dark Materials Trilogy (His Dark Materials) Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism In the Belly of a Paradox: A Celebration of Contradictions in the Thought of Thomas Merton (Pendle Hill Pamphlets Book 224) My Side of the Mountain Trilogy (My Side of the Mountain / On the Far Side of the Mountain / Frightful's Mountain) Cleft Palate & Craniofacial Anomalies: Effects on Speech and Resonance (with Student Web Site Printed Access Card) Anomalies Of Binocular Vision: Diagnosis And Management, 1e Congenital Hand Anomalies and Associated Syndromes Vascular Anomalies: Classification, Diagnosis, and Management Diagnostic Imaging of Fetal Anomalies Dark Web: Exploring and Data Mining the Dark Side of the Web (Integrated Series in Information Systems) My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance Two by Two: Tango, Two-Step, and the L.A. Night Capital and Interest: A Critical History of Economic Theory & The Positive Theory of Capital (Two Books With Active Table of Contents) 