Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Ph.D. Student of Philosophy, University of Tehran
2 Professor of Philosophy, University of Tehran
Abstract
Marx in Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844) states that the discovery of the essence of Labor is the major achievement of Hegel in Phenomenology of Spirit. He, however, claims in the same pages that Hegel's understanding is one-sided and abstract since he just knows the positive side of labor. This paper seeks to show that Marx in his early writings establishes labor (praxis) as the philosophical foundation which sublates (aufheben) Hegel's speculative philosophy. In this regard, we first articulate Hegel's metaphysical understanding of labor in 'Master and Slave' section of Phenomenology and show how this concept plays a pivotal role in filling the gap between subject and object. We, then, try to show how Marx, by basing on Hegel's dialectical logic, criticizes Hegel's one-sided articulation and synthesizes Praxis as the fundamental connection of subject and object.
Highlights
Introduction
Philosophical Marxism, which tries to read Marx with Hegel’s thought and as its continuity, is one of the major trends of Marxism throughout its long and diverse history. This paper, standing on this side, seeks to demonstrate that Marx starts his project from Hegel’s thought and, by introducing the philosophical understanding of what he calls Praxis, sublets (aufheben) Hegel’s philosophy and dialectically brings it to the sphere of society and politics. That is to say, the practice receives priority in comparison to the theory after Marx and this is due to dialectical sublation (Aufhebung) of Hegel’s absolute idealism.
To demonstrate this idea, we will start from the famous ‘Master and Slave’ section of Phenomenology where Hegel philosophically synthesizes “self-sufficiency of self-consciousness” so then history begins. One may ask why phenomenology and why this section? these points can be mentioned in this regard:
1. Hegel’s explanation in this section takes place in a pure philosophical sphere as the topic is situated in the subjective spirit part of Phenomenology. Therefore, Marx’s later critiques toward Hegel’s idealistic system would be best understood and analyzed with regard to this section.
2. Spirit, by Aufhebung of this moment, dialectically enters the realm of society since through confrontation of two self-consciousness for receiving recognition, Hegel formulates how self-consciousness establishes its self-certainty and its awareness of its object, i.e. world.
3. In this section, we will find a fundamental and metaphysical formulation of Labor and its mediating role in gaining certainty. Moreover, prominent Hegelian interpreters of Marx believe that he took a critical standpoint toward this specific section in Manuscripts.
Labor: the mediation toward recognition in Phenomenology
Hegel’s Phenomenology is a philosophical response to a crisis: the duality of subject and object and, subsequently, the ungrounded knowledge. ‘Distinct spheres’ (meaning mind and body) and ‘Connectivity of spheres’ (meaning the relation of mind and body) are directly related to the issue of knowledge. That is to say, after separation of mind and body in Descartes and by the introduction of the modern notion of subject and object, the main concern of philosophers was to find a justified basis for explaining knowledge, i.e. how the subject can have access to the object.
With the emergence of the absolute subject within the context of German Idealism, this endeavor finds a new path. Now, existence is substituted by absolute subject, and objectivity is explained by the means of it. Hegel with the help of his dialectical logic deduces and sublates each given moment till it reaches the final stage, i.e. Absolute Idea. This dialectical process is magnificently depicted in Phenomenology.
Spirit, in this section, in hope of gaining self-certainty and by negating and sublating all previous moments enters the realm of self-consciousness. Such certainty, however, cannot be achieved by another ‘thing’ since thingness, by applying self-consciousness’ desire, can only be negated and consumed. Only another self-consciousness can bestow such recognition. This process will lead to a ‘life and death struggle’ since each consciousness only wants to be recognized but denies recognizing the other. Through the struggles of two self-consciousness, one will give up the battle and becomes Slave and the winning self-consciousness is introduced as Master. But Slave will grasp that he is the one who is truly shaping the world by the means of conscious Labor. So, slave consciousness by the means of Labor, sublates Master/Slave opposition and establishes its self-certainty and becomes aware of the object as its product.
Abstract recognition of self-consciousness: Marx’s critique of Hegel
Marx, although praises Hegel for discovering the essential and fundamental role of labor, claims that he just knows the positive and abstract side of labor, and this one-sided and mistaken understanding emerged in his system because the battle between Master and Slave happens in the stage of consciousness. Hegel, according to Marx, starts from abstraction so this procedure, against his claim, cannot end in concreteness. Hegel’s system is the expression of man’s self-alienation from himself and his faculties and such a dialectical process will never reach to a real, concrete human being. So, Marx’s main critique directs toward Hegel’s point of departure. That is to say, the speculative system of Hegel must be sublated so that the dialectical process would find its proper meaning.
Praxis: Marx’s Aufhebung of Hegel
Marx, by criticizing Hegel’s starting point, now needs to put forward his alternative and non-idealistic explanation of fundamentality of labor. It is to say that, he must dialectically sublate Hegel’s speculative philosophy. Such sublation takes place by changing the point of view from speculation to entanglement and transformation by the mediation of Labor. Marx explains such a point of departure in Theses on Feuerbach and German Ideology where he speaks about the fundamental entanglement of the human being with the world as the aufhebung of both idealism and materialism. To put it in another way, the human being is fundamentally related to the world and he, with the mediation of labor, realizes both himself and its world.
Conclusion
Praxis, as the Aufhebung of Hegel’s absolute Idealism and Feuerbach’s anthropological materialism, is a point of departure that points out to the social, historical, conscious, and practical essence of the human being. Man, through praxis, establishes his species being and without which history would be meaningless. Marx’s solution for the duality of subject and object is to negate it. He calls it, alongside other abstract philosophical problems, as pseudo-problem which arises from a speculative point of view. He achieves this goal by changing the point of departure and through the sublation of idealism and materialism.
It is incorrect to call Marx a materialist since this label would omit his major philosophical achievement about his philosophical heritage. “praxism” would be a better attribute for his thought, at least concerning his early writings.
References
- Avineri, S. (1968), The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx, London, and New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Balibar, E. (2007), The Philosophy of Marx, Translated by Chris Turner, London and New York: Verso.
- Beiser, F. (2005), Hegel, New York and Oxford: Routledge.
- Brudney, D. (1998), Marx’s Attempt to Leave Philosophy, Massachusetts: Harward University Press.
- Cohen, G. A. (1974), ‘Marx’s Dialectic of Labor’ in Philosophy and Public Affair, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Spring, 1974), pp. 235-261.
- Gadamer, H. G. (2017), Hegel’s Dialectic: Five Hermeneutical Studies, Translated by Pegah Mosleh, Tehran: Elmifarhangi Publication.
- Hegel, G. W. F. (2015), Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, translated by Mahbod Irani Talab, Tehran: Ghatreh Press.
- Hegel, G.W.F.
- (1991), Elements of the Philosophy of Right, edited by A. W. Wood, translated by H. B. Nisbet, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Hegel, G.W.F.
- (2010), Science of Logic, translated and edited by George Di Giovanni, Oxford: Cambridge University Press.
- Hegel, G.W.F.
- (2010), The Phenomenology of Spirit, translated and edited by Terry Pinkard, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Bilingual Edition)
- Marx, K. (2000), Selected Writings, edited by David McLellan, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Marx, K. (2015), Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 1844, Translated by Hasan Mortazavi, Tehran: Ashian Publication.
- Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1956), The Holy Family or Critique of Critical Critique, translated from the German by R. Dixon, Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.
- Marx, K. and Engels, F. (2010), Collected Works, Vol. 3, Karl Marx March 1843-August 1844, Lawrence & Wishart, Electric Books.
- Marx, K. and Engels, F. (2010), Collected Works, Vol. 5, Marx and Engels 1845-47, Lawrence & Wishart, Electric Books.
- Pinkard, T. (1996), Hegel’s Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Seyyed-Ahmadian, A. (2015), Herrschaft und Knechtschaft aus der Phänomenologie des Geistes, Tehren: Cheshmeh Press.
- Talebzadeh, H. (2017), A Dialogue Between Hegel and Islamic Philosophers: Becoming, Dialectic and Idealism, Tehran: Hermes Publication.
Keywords
)
Send comment about this article