Christoph Henning writes a concise history of misreadings of Marx in the 20th century. Focussing on German philosophy from Heidegger to Habermas, he also addresses the influence of Rawls and Neopragmatism, subsequently scrutinizing a previous history of Marx-interpretations that had served as the premises upon which these later works were based. Henning sketches a historical trajectory in which a theory of socialist politics enters the fields of economics, sociology, critical theory and theology, before finally – overloaded with intellectually dead freight – entering into philosophy. In so doing, he takes a hermeneutic approach to how misreadings in a specific field proliferate into further misreadings across a variety of fields, leading to an accumulation of questionable preconceptions. With the recent resurgence of interest in Marx, Henning's historical recursions make evident where and how academic Anti-Marxism had previously got it wrong. English translation of Philosophie nach Marx. 100 Jahre Marxrezeption und die normative Sozialphilosophie der Gegenwart in der Kritik, Transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld, 2005.

Daniel Brudney traces the development of post-Hegelian thought from Ludwig Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer to Karl Marx's work of 1844 and his Theses on Feuerbach, and concludes with an examination of The German Ideology. Brudney focuses on the transmutations of a set of ideas about human nature, the good life, and our relation to the world and to others; about how we end up with false beliefs about these matters; about whether one can, in a capitalist society, know the truth about these matters; and about the critique of capitalism which would flow from such knowledge. Brudney shows how Marx, following Feuerbach, attempted to reveal humanity's nature and what would count as the good life, while eschewing and indeed polemicizing against "philosophy"--against any concern with metaphysics and epistemology. Marx attempted to avoid philosophy as early as 1844, and the central aims of his texts are the same right through The German Ideology. There is thus no break between an early and a late Marx; moreover, there is no "materialist" Marx, no Marx who subscribes to a metaphysical view, even in The German Ideology, the text canonically taken as the origin of Marxist materialism. Rather, in all the texts of this period Marx tries to mount a compelling critique of the present while altogether avoiding the dilemmas central to philosophy in the modern era. Table of Contents: Abbreviations Introduction Themes from the Young Hegelians Feuerbach's and Marx's Complaint against Philosophy The Interest of These Texts Chapter by Chapter 1. Feuerbach's Critique of Christianity The Critique of Christianity The Method of The Essence of Christianity Comparisons The Geistiger Naturforscher 2. Feuerbach's Critique of Philosophy The Status of Philosophy The Method of the Critique of Philosophy The Content of the Critique of Philosophy Problems Antecedents Final Comment 3. Bruno Bauer Self-Consciousness State and Civil Society The Critique of Religion Bauer's Method Assessment 4. The 1844 Marx I: Self-Realization Species Being: Products Species Being: Enjoyments The Human Relation to Objects Species Being: Immortality The Human Self-Realization Activity 5. The 1844 Marx II: The Structure of Community Completing One Another Mediation with the Species 3 Digression on Community 6. The 1844 Marx III: The Problem of Justification The Workers' Ignorance of Their True Nature The Problem of Justification The Problem of Communists' Ends and Beliefs Marx's 1844 Critique of Philosophy The Problem of the Present 7. The Theses on Feuerbach Fundamental Relations/Orientations Thesis Eleven Labor The Practical-Idealist Reading The Problem of the First Step Thesis Six 8. The German Ideology I: More Anti-Philosophy Some General Comments The Attack on the Young Hegelian Empirical Verification Anti-Philosophy I Anti-Philosophy II Transformation 9. The German Ideology II: The Picture of the Good Life and the Change from 1844 Division of Labor Community Self-Activity The Change from 1844 10. The German Ideology III: The Critique of Morality (and the Return to Philosophy) What Is the Problem with Morality? The (Weak) Sociological Thesis The Strong Sociological Thesis and the Structural Thesis Morality and Moral Philosophy under Communism Can The German Ideology Justify a Condemnation of Capitalism? Returning to Philosophy Conclusion Notes Index Reviews of this book: "[Marx's Attempt to Leave Philosophy] is plainly the work of a thoughtful and intelligent philosopher. The discussions of Bruno Bauer and Marx's writings of 1844-6, in particular, are valuable resources for students of German philosophy of the 1840s." DD--Brian Leiter, Times Literary Supplement "Brudney's work offers some fascinating insights into the world of the Young Hegelians from whence Marx came. It also makes some subtle points about the epistemology of moral theory and about the communitarian aspects of Marx's vision that are important for contemporary philosophy." DD--R. Hudelson, Choice

In this major study, first published in 1988, Professor Kitching builds on recent scholarship on Marx and Wittgenstein to provide an incisive, readable account and critique of the whole of Marx’s work. He presents the philosophical, economic, and political Marx as one thinker, and argues that the key to understanding Marx is his commitment to a ‘philosophy of praxis’. This sees thought as just part of that purposive activity (or praxis) which distinguishes human beings from other creatures. This is the first book to analyse all of Marx’s thought from a Wittgenstein perspective; in doing so, it clarifies and deepens our understanding of Marx.

This book examines why Marxist philosophy will continue to be a central point of reference well beyond postmodernism and the Anthropocene.

This essay attempts to demonstrate the significance of the principle of activity in the philosophy of Karl Marx. The principle of activity in Marx has both a general and a specific meaning. In general the princi pIe refers to the activist element in Marxian practice motivating both Marx and his contemporary devotees. The specific facet of the principle relates to Marx's philosophy - the principle of activity being that con cept which underlies the entire system. Activity for Marx is both a philosophie concept and an element of human experience demanded by his system. Marx, that is, not only theorizes about activity but also illustrates his theory in hislife. Hence, we find the principle of activity both in his writings and in his doings. Marx most often used the words Action, Tätigkeit, or Praxis to refer to the principle of activity. No major philosopher has fully dealt with the concept of action. We sometimes suppose that action only occurs when we can observe some outward result or motion. Spinoza's definition of action disallows this narrow interpretation of activity.

In Karl Marx's early writing (first made available many years after his death) his economic interpretation of history and his concept of communism were set in a comprehensive philosophical framework. Marx's main preoccupation at this time was with man estranged from himself in an alienated world: a subjective, almost religious theme.Taking full account of these earlier writings, Robert Tucker critiques and reinterprets Marx's thought. He shows how its origins can be located in earlier German philosophers, in particular Kant, Hegel, and Feuerbach. Reconstructing the genesis of Marxism in its founder's own mind, he clarifies Marx's mystifying contention that Marxism represented Hegelianism turned 'on its head'. He then presents a new interpretation, based on close textual analysis, of the relation between Marx's early philosophical system and the subsequent materialist conception of history as expounded in the later and best known writings of Marx and Engels. Against this background, Tucker presents Das Kapital as a work belonging to the post-Hegelian mythical development of Germany philosophy. Considering in turn the genesis of Marxism and the underlying continuity of his thought from the early writings to Das Kapital, Tucker shows the theme of alienation is central throughout.In the years since the book was first written, comments and criticism have encouraged Tucker to change his position somewhat. This is explained in a new introduction that goes beyond the interpretative enterprise of the rest of the book to assess Marx in relation to contemporary concerns: first it presents a critique of Marx's treatment of alienation and then it comments on the moot problem of the continuing relevance of his social and economic thought. On the latter point his views have matured and altered during the intervening years and he now finds the economic and social aspects of Marx's thought considerably more relevant than he did before.

Written by one of political theory's leading thinkers, The Philosophy of Marx examines all the key areas of Marx's writings in their wider historical and theoretical context-including the concepts of class struggle, ideology, humanism, progress, determinism, commodity fetishism, and the state. Etienne Balibar opens a gateway into the thought of one of history's great minds. In this updated edition to this now classic work, Balibar has added a substantial introduction and new material. Complete with key "information boxes" for the student to make the most challenging areas of theory easy to understand, this remains the best available introduction to the most important thinker of the past 200 years.

Interest in the study of Marx’s thought has shown a revival in recent years, with a number of newly established academic societies, conferences, and journals dedicated to discussing his thought. This book brings together distinguished and up-and-coming scholars to provide a major re-evaluation of historical issues in Marx scholarship and to connect Marx’s ideas with fresh debates in contemporary Anglo-American social and political philosophy. Among the topics discussed are Marx’s relationship to his philosophical predecessors—including Hegel, the young Hegelians, and the utopian socialists—his concept of recognition, his critique of liberalism, and his views on the good life. This book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students interested in Marx, Hegel, the history of political thought, and social and political philosophy.

This book, first published in 1977, presents for the first time a serious and systematic assessment of Marx primarily as a philosopher. It considers all major aspects of Marx’s theory – its methodology, its ontological dimensions, its approaches to the descriptions of history and of societies and their economic structures, its alleged predictions and its vision of the future – as well as some of its intellectual antecedents and twentieth-century heirs. The presentation of Marx’s ideas attempts to be at once faithful to them, as distinguished from their reinterpretations by later ‘Marxists’, and yet novel in form and language. From this unique standpoint, the book aims to bring the student of philosophy and of political ideas to a closer understanding of the intellectual foundations of Marx’s Capital and his writings in collaboration with Engels.

This collection brings together the latest work of some of the world's leading Marxist philosophers and new young researchers. Based upon work presented at meetings of the Marx and Philosophy Society, it offers a unique snapshot of the best current scholarship on the philosophical aspects and implications of Marx's thought.