Happy new year! Buon anno! Guten Rutsch! etc.

Happy new year! Buon anno! Guten Rutsch! etc.

Stephen Houlgate, The opening of Hegel’s Logic: From Being to Infinity, Purdue University Press, 2006

Stephen Houlgate, The opening of Hegel’s Logic: From Being to Infinity, Purdue University Press, 2006

Hegel is one of the most important modern philosophers, whose thought influenced the development of existentialism, Marxism, pragmatism, hermeneutics and deconstruction. Yet Hegel's central text, the monumental Science of Logic, still remains for most philosophers (both figuratively and literally) a firmly closed book. The purpose of The Opening of Hegel's Science of Logic is to dispel the myths that surround the Logic and to show that Hegel's unjustly neglected text is a work of extraordinary subtlety and insight. Part One argues that the Logic provides a rigorous derivation of the fundamental categories of thought and contrasts Hegel's approach to the categories with that of Kant. It goes on to examine the historical and linguistic presuppositions of Hegel's self-critical, "presuppositionless" logic and, in the process, considers several significant criticisms of such logic advanced by Schelling, Feuerbach, Gadamer and Kierkegaard. Separate chapters are devoted to the relationship between logic and ontology in Hegel's Logic and to the relationship between the Logic itself and the Phenomenology.Part Two contains the text - in German and English - of the first two chapters of Hegel's Logic, which cover such categories as being, becoming, something, limit, finitude and infinity. Part Three then provides a clear and accessible commentary on these two chapters that both examines Hegel's arguments in detail and relates his insights to those of other philosophers, such as Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche and Levinas. The Opening of Hegel's Science of Logic aims to help students and scholars read Hegel's often formidably difficult text for themselves and discover the wealth of philosophical riches that it contains. It also argues that Hegel's project of a presuppositionless science of logic is one that deserves serious consideration today.

Gramsci & Hegemony | Peter D Thomas | Counterforum | London | 3 May 2010

The Gramscian Moment Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism Peter D. Thomas

The Gramscian Moment

Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism

Peter D. Thomas

 

http://brill.nl/product_id29354 

Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks are today acknowledged as a classic of the human and social sciences in the twentieth century. The influence of his thought in numerous fields of scholarship is only exceeded by the diverse interpretations and readings to which it has been subjected, resulting in often contradictory 'images of Gramsci'. This book draws on the rich recent season of Gramscian philological studies in order to argue that the true significance of Gramsci's thought consists in its distinctive position in the development of the Marxist tradition. Providing a detailed reconsideration of Gramsci's theory of the state and concept of philosophy, The 'Gramscian moment' argues for the urgent necessity of taking up the challenge of developing a 'philosophy of praxis' as a vital element in the contemporary revitalisation of Marxism.

Marxism and Human Nature

Marxism and Human Nature.  London and New York: Routledge, 1998; paperback edition 2007.
"Sayers's book is an articulate, sophisticated and clear
discussion of human nature as a historical phenomenon. It
is beautifully written and has insights into a rich range of
topics from the role of work in contemporary society to
the ambivalent nature of social progress. Anyone
interested in sociology, politics and philosophy of our
society will find this book thought-provoking and
fruitful."
Professor David McLellan, University of Kent
Is there such a thing as human nature? In Marxism and
Human Nature, Sean Sayers defends the controversial
theory that human nature is in fact an historical
phenomenon. Those who disagree with this theory counter
that it leads to forms of scepticism and relativism which
are at odds with morality; Sayers reveals that this need not
be the case. Drawing on the work of Marx and Hegel, he
develops a historical account of human needs and powers
which provides the basis for a distinctive form of Marxist humanism. According to this
view, human beings are not merely passive individual consumers: they are active, social
and productive beings. The first half of the book explores the essential role work plays in
our lives and how it contributes to our fulfilment. The moral and social implications of
these ideas are analysed in the second half in the context of current work by both analytic
and postmodernist thinkers. Marxism and Human Nature gives an ambitious and wide
ranging defence of the Marxist and Hegelian historical approach. In the process, the book
engages with a wide range of work at the heart of the contemporary debate in social and
moral philosophy. Clearly and engagingly written, Marxism and Human Nature will
illuminate the debate for anyone engaged in politics or philosophy. It will of course be
especially relevant for researchers studying Marx, Hegel or Gorz.

Sean Sayers, Marxist Philosophy in Britain: An Overview

Marxist Philosophy in Britain: An Overview
Sean Sayers


http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/philosophy/articles/sayers/marxistphilosophy.pdf

N. Merker, Karl Marx, vita e opere, Laterza 2010

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#!/notes/dialettica-e-filosofia/n-merker-karl-marx-vita-e-opere-laterza-2010/482573554869 

 

N. Merker, Karl Marx, vita e opere, Laterza 2010

Di solito le "psicografie" davano di Marx un quadro in negativo, utile spesso alla tesi che le teorie di un mostro di perversioni non potevano contenere nella di buono. [...]
Con altrettanta cura va evitata quella che per i logici è la fallacia del conseguente, chiamata dai logici antichi il post hoc ergo propter hoc [...]. C'è faccia del conseguente quando quel che in una serie cronologica di fenomeni è un mero antecedente, viene elevato a causa del fenomeno successivo. Dalla fine dell'Ottocento dappprima larghi settori del movimento operaio e sindacale, poi interi sistemi statuali, scrissero il nome di Marx sulle loro bandiere. la fallacia del conseguente consiste nel ritenere che Marx sia perciò la causa di ogni cosa in cui il suo nome si trovò implicato. Quest'abitudine di "falsa conseguenza" si trova sia in chi su quelle bandiere giurava, sia in chi le aborriva. [...]
"Psicografie" e "fallacia del conseguente" hanno in comune la cosiddetta metabasi in altro genere: ovvero, nel discorso, il passaggio, tacito e non dichiarato, da un genere di soggetto a un altro, diverso. Con una confusione cognitiva pari a quella che risulterebbe dall'addizionare patate ed elefanti senza dire che si tratta di oggetti diversi. è sempre uno scambio di contesti. Come le psicografie buttano il vissuto psichico-esistenziale in un unico calderone insieme all'elaborazione razionale delle teorie, così la fallacia del conseguente trasforma il "prima" cronologico in causa categoriale del "dopo". [...] (pp. 10 e ss.)