FRANKFURT SCHOOL AND THE CRITICAL THEORY

2019

Marxism and Critical Theory derive from a long and broad intellectual tradition that originated in the nineteenth century in the so-called “Hegelian Left” group in Berlin, which included the young student Karl Marx. This German philosopher has left us a rich theoretical- critical legacy that, from philosophy to political economy, sociology, history, psychoanalysis, etc., allows us to subject capitalist society to a substantive social critique with emancipatory interest. Nevertheless, it is in this critical spirit that the idea of this publication emerged as a special issue entitled Marxism and Critical Theory.

Most individuals approach the ideas proposed by Marx in a very stagnant, robotic manner. This is a dangerous thing to do because the dynamic of our current day and age is not taken into consideration. Marx himself, on his deathbed in 1883, proclaimed that “I am not sure of many things in this life but the one thing I am sure of is that I am not a Marxist.” This shows that he wasn’t set in his ways but made space for new findings as they came along. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to briefly look at Marxism and fit it into the context of modernity. The first section will deal with a short description of Marx’s life and various works. His main ideas or propositions will be looked at with specific reference to the ones that are most popular today. The second section will deal with a criticism of Marxism and finally the conclusion will show if Marxism is even relevant in the 21st century at all.

In this chapter I give an overview of “Post-Marxism.” Primary attention is paid to what should be considered the core of Post-Marxism in relation to Marxist and Non- Marxist critical theory, namely, its conception of the social. This shift is of importance for the overall post-Marxist philosophical vision of society, theory, and politics. Theorists discussed include Badiou, Honneth, Ranciere, Laclau/Mouffe, Foucault, Gorz, and Hardt/Negri.

Thesis Eleven, 2017

After the death of Gyo ¨rgy Ma ´rkus (hereafter George) on 5 October this year and, in response to a short obituary I had written, I was inundated with messages of condolence and eulogy from many different parts of the world. Amongst these was one from Julio Boltvinik, Professor at the College de Me ´xico, Mexico City, who had been inspired by Ma ´rkus's writings and corresponded with him during the period between 2006 and 2010. This primarily concerned an envisaged Spanish translation of some of Ma ´rkus's work, which to that time had not yet appeared in Spanish. During this time Boltvinik attempted to initiate a philosophical dialogue between Ma ´rkus and the highly regarded Mexican philosopher and cultural critic Bolı ´var Echeverrı ´a, who died in 2010 before the exchange could be completed. Fortunately for us, both were able to make a beginning through the mediation of Boltvinik, through whom Desacatos was able to publish a brief summary of the four other chapters and the translations that made the exchange possible. This exchange is of interest to the contemporary reader, not just because it demonstrates the initial reaction of a learned Mexican scholar to a key chapter in Ma ´rkus's Language and Production: A Critique of Paradigms (1982), but because it also provides Ma ´rkus's most recent short exposition of his views on a range of central questions concerning contemporary philosophy and critical theory: their possibilities and limitations. As mentioned, Echeverrı ´a confines his comments on Language and Production to Chapter 5, 'On the Possibility of a Critical Theory'. He explains to the readers of Desacatos something of the history of the Budapest School and the role of Ma ´rkus within it. For him the key point here is that these followers of Georg Luka ´cs strove to 'maintain the possibility of a critical Marxism, including a Marxism capable of self-criticism and capable of developing and getting into discussions with other theoretical positions in the 20th century within the orbit of the Soviet Empire'. 1 For Echeverrı ´a, the crux of the

Marxism in the modern world: social-philosophical analysis, 2019

The paper concentrates on resolving the question: is it possible today to be guided by Marxism as an instrument of social transformation, is this teaching capable of contributing to social advancement? Facts are a stubborn thing: Marxism in its completeness is refuted. But the fact of the collapse of the attempts to put Marxism into practice is not a completely convincing argument against the social doctrine of Marx. The question, ultimately, goes back to the problem of the subjective factor of the moral, theoretical, and political maturity of those who turn Marxism in actual practice.

2024

Political Theory, 1974