Georg Lukács’s Philosophy of Praxis: From Neo-Kantianism to Marxism

Author:   Konstantinos Kavoulakos ,  Andrew Feenberg
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:  

9781350155282


Pages:   264
Publication Date:   19 March 2020
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Georg Lukács’s Philosophy of Praxis: From Neo-Kantianism to Marxism


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Overview

Georg Lukács’ early Marxist philosophy of the 1920s laid the foundations of Critical Theory. However the evaluation of Lukács’ philosophical contribution has been largely determined by one-sided readings of eminent theorists like Adorno, Habermas, Honneth or even Lukács himself. This book offers a new reconstruction of Lukács’ early Marxist work, capable of restoring its dialectical complexity by highlighting its roots in his neo-Kantian, 'pre-Marxist' period. In his pre-Marxist work Lukács sought to articulate a critique of formalism from the standpoint of a dubious mystical ethics of revolutionary praxis. Consequently, Lukács discovered a more coherent and realistic answer to his philosophical dilemmas in Marxism. At the same time, he retained his neo-Kantian reservations about idealist dialectics. In his reading of historical materialism he combined non-idealist, non-systematic historical dialectics with an emphasis on conscious, collective, transformative praxis. Reformulated in this way Lukács’ classical argument plays a central role within a radical Critical Theory.

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Author:   Konstantinos Kavoulakos ,  Andrew Feenberg
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Weight:   0.376kg
ISBN:  

9781350155282


ISBN 10:   1350155284
Pages:   264
Publication Date:   19 March 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Preface by Andrew Feenberg 1. Introduction: The Need to Reconsider Lukacs' Philosophy of Praxis First Part: Method 2. The Problem of Content: a Neo-Kantian Theme 3. Flawed Philosophical Alternatives 4. Lukacs' Materialist Theory of History Second Part: Theory 5. The Origins of the Concept of Reification in Lukacs' Early Work 6. The Modern Form of Objectivity 7. What is Reification? Third Part: Praxis 8. From Mystical Ethics to Transformative Praxis 9. De-reifying Capitalism 10. Limits of De-reification 11. Epilogue: The Significance of Lukacs's Philosophy of Praxis Today References Index

Reviews

Providing a timely reassessment of Georg Lukács’s History and Class Consciousness, Konstantinos Kavoulakos rescues the critical potential of Lukács’s theory of reification and transformative praxis from its long-congealed history of misreading and mistranslation, letting us see it with fresh new eyes, and letting it speak to our own troubled times. * Nikolas Kompridis, Research Professor in Philosophy and Political Thought, Australian Catholic University, Australia * In its orientation toward social transformation and toward new experiments in the meaning of being human, Lukács's philosophy of praxis was too far ahead of its time. Its time has finally come, and Kavoulakos has given us an interpretation of Lukács’s revolutionary Marxism that is a fit for this moment in history. His careful recovery of Lukács’s neo-Kantian formation together with his meticulous reconstruction of the core arguments of the “Reification” essay make Kavoulakos’s text a vital contribution to contemporary critical theory. * J. M. Bernstein, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, USA * Kavoulakos’s book is an outstanding piece of scholarship that shows, with deep insight, how Georg Lukács was able to give a unique philosophical foundation to revolutionary politics in “History and Class-Consciousness” (1923) by combining Neokantian and Hegelian concepts with the Marxist theoretical foundations. Lukács’s philosophy of praxis is still relevant today and cannot be reduced, as so many critics have argued, to an “idealist” argument. * Michael Löwy, Emeritus Research Director of Sociology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France *


Providing a timely reassessment of Georg Lukacs's History and Class Consciousness, Konstantinos Kavoulakos rescues the critical potential of Lukacs's theory of reification and transformative praxis from its long-congealed history of misreading and mistranslation, letting us see it with fresh new eyes, and letting it speak to our own troubled times. * Nikolas Kompridis, Research Professor in Philosophy and Political Thought, Australian Catholic University, Australia * In its orientation toward social transformation and toward new experiments in the meaning of being human, Lukacs's philosophy of praxis was too far ahead of its time. Its time has finally come, and Kavoulakos has given us an interpretation of Lukacs's revolutionary Marxism that is a fit for this moment in history. His careful recovery of Lukacs's neo-Kantian formation together with his meticulous reconstruction of the core arguments of the Reification essay make Kavoulakos's text a vital contribution to contemporary critical theory. * J. M. Bernstein, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, USA * Kavoulakos's book is an outstanding piece of scholarship that shows, with deep insight, how Georg Lukacs was able to give a unique philosophical foundation to revolutionary politics in History and Class-Consciousness (1923) by combining Neokantian and Hegelian concepts with the Marxist theoretical foundations. Lukacs's philosophy of praxis is still relevant today and cannot be reduced, as so many critics have argued, to an idealist argument. * Michael Loewy, Emeritus Research Director of Sociology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France *


Author Information

Konstantinos Kavoulakos is associate professor of Social and Political Philosophy/Philosophy of Culture at the University of Crete, Greece.

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