Revolutionary Subjectivity in the Thought of Karl Marx

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dc.contributor.advisorWinslow, Edward G.
dc.contributor.authorElias, Paul Steven
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-22T18:34:30Z
dc.date.available2019-11-22T18:34:30Z
dc.date.copyright2019-04
dc.date.issued2019-11-22
dc.date.updated2019-11-22T18:34:30Z
dc.degree.disciplineSocial & Political Thought
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation demonstrates several theses in relation to key components of Marxs philosophy that conventional interpretations either misrepresent or overlook. The chief thesis concerns his idea of revolutionary subjectivity which is demonstrably inconsistent and undertheorized. The main areas of Marxs work that are explored to elucidate this idea are his ontology and method, philosophical anthropology, idea of communist society, and theory of history. Insight into these and other aspects of his work can be derived through analysis of a tradition of social philosophy which has its origins in ancient Hellenic thought. Marxs strongest inspiration from this period came from the philosophy of Aristotle, whose work profoundly influenced his understanding of human development and his idea of free life-activity and relations. A key component of this tradition is the ontological idea that reason governs the world. Marx sublated the form that it took in Hegels philosophy. Inspired by Hegels idea that reason is at work in human history through a process of estrangement, Marx claimed that the capitalist mode of production is instrumental in the development of the productive forces and the integral development of the revolutionary working class. According to Marx the creation of revolutionary subjectivity takes place through estrangement and revolutionary practice. On his premises, such developmentally self-transformative life-activity is indispensable for the development of the capacities required for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and reorganization of social life. And yet he also claimed that the life-activity of working people in capitalist society has a tendency to ruin them physically and mentally. An accurate representation of this problem at the heart of Marxs idea of revolutionary subjectivityand thus of this idea itselfrequires an emphasis on his sensitivity to the subjective-mental dimension of human life (his incipient psychology and theory of mind) and the development of individual ethical capacities in particular. This dissertation concludes by rearticulating elements of Marxs thought about estrangement and human subjectivity with Husserlian phenomenology and Freudian psychoanalysis (including some of Melanie Kleins revisions of it) so as to establish a fruitful starting point for sublating Marxs social philosophy.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/36650
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectPolitical Science
dc.subject.keywordsMarx
dc.subject.keywordsMarxism
dc.subject.keywordsRevolutionary subjectivity
dc.subject.keywordsHistorical materialism
dc.subject.keywordsDialectic
dc.subject.keywordsDialectical materialism
dc.subject.keywordsVanguardism
dc.subject.keywordsRevolutionary practice
dc.subject.keywordsRevolutionary theory
dc.subject.keywordsScientific socialism
dc.subject.keywordsCommunism
dc.subject.keywordsAlienation
dc.subject.keywordsEstrangement
dc.subject.keywordsProletariat
dc.subject.keywordsWorking class
dc.subject.keywordsPhilosophy of history
dc.subject.keywordsTeleology
dc.subject.keywordsOntology
dc.subject.keywordsEpistemology
dc.subject.keywordsPhilosophical anthropology
dc.subject.keywordsEthics
dc.subject.keywordsSociology
dc.subject.keywordsPolitics
dc.subject.keywordsSubjectivity
dc.subject.keywordsPsychology
dc.subject.keywordsPhilosophy of mind
dc.subject.keywordsSocial philosophy
dc.subject.keywordsHegel
dc.subject.keywordsAristotle
dc.subject.keywordsSocratic tradition
dc.subject.keywordsFreud
dc.subject.keywordsPsychoanalysis
dc.subject.keywordsMelanie Klein
dc.subject.keywordsHusserl
dc.subject.keywordsPhenomenology
dc.titleRevolutionary Subjectivity in the Thought of Karl Marx
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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