Marxism as Asketic, Spirituality as Phronetic: Rethinking Praxis

Marx, Marxism and the Spiritual. Routledge. , 2020

Can religious epistemology aid in the transformation of the world to the same effect as Marxist Theory? Utilizing an approach derived from Louis Althusser's isolation of the radical implications of the epistemological break of Karl Marx, from his Feuerbachain theological thought to a materialist epistemological tradition, we probe the relationship between the mystical intent of Christian theology and the appearance of praxis as a category derived from the Marxist lexicon, within the modus cogitans of Latin American theology of liberation. We problematise the transcendentalism that liberation theology places on social practice, in its retention of a spiritualist Weltanschauung as the preeminent framework for the critique of socio-historical reality. Far from being a materialist-transformative " epistemological break " from orthodox theology, this putative theology of revolution is thus exposed as being a brand of a Hegelian theosophy, which is discontinuous with the dialectical understanding of the socio-material basis of human relations that emerges around Marxist Theory, namely praxis. Our leitmotif is therefore a claim that political theology, qua theology in general, and the Latin American Theology of Liberation in particular, have a limited efficacy as a theoretical tool for socio-political transformation, due to its inherent transcendentalist and rationalistic orientation.

Uncorrected draft entry for Encyclopedia of Phenomenology, eds. Ted Toadvine and Nicolas de Warren (Springer)

A brief overview of Marx's account of religion is followed by a consideration of a conception of liberation—a notion shared by marxists and adherents of religious traditions alike—that is substantive enough to overcome the marginalization and exploitation of countless numbers of human beings. The final section deals with the possibility of a rapprochement between the marxist and the adherent of a religious tradition.

This conversation with the fourteenth Dalai Lama-the spiritual-political inspiration of the displaced Tibetan community-revolves around questions of why a practitioner of the Buddha Dharma would like to call himself Marxist, and also his views on the violence of both Marxist praxis and religion. The Dalai Lama splits Marxism into, on the one hand, violent paranoid statecraft, and, on the other, the moral principle of equal distribution. He aligns with the latter. He also displaces other-worldly religion to this-worldly moksha; he calls it spirituality. The conversation brings to dialogue the possible political consequences of a this-worldly spirituality and the possible spiritual consequences of a reflexive Marxism keenly attuned to experiences of human suffering.

Although Marx’s critique of capitalism, especially his theory of fetishism, requires experiential knowledge (my term for “spirituality”), his framework does not leave any conceptual room for such knowledge. The idea that spirituality is (perhaps the better) part of religion is a deeply held assumption of secular Western thought. Only in Michel Foucault’s late lectures do we find a Western thinker realizing that what opposed spirituality, and subsequently suppressed it, is not science but religion. This essay reconstructs Foucault’s reasons for making that startling claim and then explores how Marx’s early insight into the secularization of European culture can be deepened with the help of Foucault’s genealogical analysis of the disappearance of spiritual knowledge in the West. Equipped with a framework to understand the secularization of Western culture in a radically different way, the essay then tackles the question of reformulating Marx’s theory of reification with the resources provided by experiential knowledge (spirituality). Key Words: Experiential Knowledge, Michel Foucault, Karl Marx, Secularization, Spirituality

2013

Opposition within Spain to the Francoist dictatorship (1939-1975) grew undoubtedly stronger during the last two decades of the regime. However, it is only recently, that attention is being paid to the impact that Critical Theory – as developed by the Frankfurt School – had in Spain during the last stages of the regime and during the ensuing Transition to democracy. The purpose of this book is to readdress the question of the existence Critical Theory in Spanish thought during this period. Its main argument is that, contrary to general belief, Critical Theory was developed in Spain during the second half of the twentieth century influenced by and parallel to the Frankfurt School’s own research. Specifically, this book draws attention to the efforts that two leading Spanish thinkers, namely, Jesús Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate (1934-2001), better known as Duke of Alba (1978-2001), and José Luis López Aranguren (1909-1996), made towards criticizing and desestabilizing instrumental reason. More importantly, it also explores their attempt to develop an alternative reason that would challenge the established framework of rationality.

This Draft (November 2014) is a detailed and thorough exploration of the revolutionary sense of the sacred, in which Marx participated.

Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, 2021