Richard Turner The concept ‘dialectical reason’, as used by ‘marxist’ theorists, contains buried within it a number of theoretical problems, problems which have significance for where why and how we may use dialectical reason. There are three issues, in particular, on which reflective clarity is both always needed and often lacking. Firstly, what precisely distinguishes […]

nOTES state, and therefore teach people not to depend on and fetishize the State as an omnipotent and eternal form on which they depend? In the absence of a coherent theory, situated in the debates that have occupied Marxists (or maybe even Anarchists) for a hundred and some years, I really don’t see that Radical […]

REUIEWS greatest merit… His I”as a call to arms, to hatred: class against class, against a patient and mortal enemy with whom there could be no accommodation. THE WATCHDOGS Sean Savers The Watchdogs, however, is more than a work of mere passion – it is also a theoretical critique of academicism, particularly in philosophy; and […]

REPORTS OXFORD MEETING Finally it was agreed that there should be another National Conference in the summer. to be held in London early in the summer vacation. An attempt would be made to involve other radical groups, such as radical psychologists, sociologists and economists, and more activist groups such as radical teachers, social workers, ‘prisoners […]

_DIAL PHIlOSOPHY 3 WINTER 1972 .. Since our last issue one of the most encouraging developments has been the formation of several new local groups. There are at least two functions these groups can perform both useful and neither necessarily exclusive of the other. A group aay provide a context in which ideas, ~nich are […]

****************************************************************** ‘THE REUOLUTlon BETRAYED’ -[.J. Arthur ****************************************************************** In spite of Trotsky’s tremendous role in the victory of the Russian Revolution, his name will be forever associated primarily with the struggle against its decline, with his patient exposures of Stalin’s falsifications of the programme, and the history, of the revolution. as opposed In my view his […]

THE SOOAL FUD[TIOD OF PHIOSOPHY When the words physics, chemistry, medicine, or history are mentioned in a conversation, the participants usually have something very definite in mind. Should any difference of opinion arise, we could consult an encyclopaedia or accepted textbook or turn to one or more outstanding specialists in the field in question. The […]

new world. Tradition and faith were two of the most powerful bulwarks of the old regine. and the philosophical attackes constituted an immediate historical action. Today. however. it is not a matter of eliminating a creed. for in the totalitarian states. where the noisiest appeal is made to heroism and a lofty Weltanschauung, neither faith […]

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• PHILOSOPHY liD TIB TIIRD WORLD ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• O.1.Ladimeji When dominant and subordinate groups exist in close relation to each other, the dominant group which usually has control of the centres of intellectual orientation will set about constructing a world-view in which the subordinate group has its submission ontologically determined, and will begin systematically indoctrinating members […]

The expulsion of spirits from science, he argues, led to the ‘purification’ of the entire universe expelling all elements not capable of mechanistic explanation, and this notion of a ‘purified’ universe became built into the notion of the scientific enterprise. If we tie this in with Robert Y~ung’s arguments about the ideological orientation of the […]

THE EXPERIENCE OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY TOADULTS Noel Parker Even in the least partisan formulation of its objectives, Radical Philosophy believes in a philosophy ‘relevant to people’s wider lives and interests’. Though many of us may find or hope to find guidance for radical political or social activity in the philosophy we study, the fact remains […]

The Story so far: Professor Witticus von-Etzdorf never went anywhere without his copy of The Critique of Pure Reason. The Critique was on his desk and the Prof. ~s missing. With the Logical Positivist Meeting in Vienna only two days away fast talking philosopherdetective Jean Paul Sauvage needed all his wits’ about him when Athene […]

WHAT IS RADI[AL PHILOSOPHV? BEGINNING FROM COMMITMENT Peter Binns [Reprinted with permission from Times Higher Educational Supplement. 5th May, ]972] The recent conference of radical philosophers in London attracted hundreds of dissident intellectuals. Yet it became apparent that there was no single clearly defined direction in which the philosophers wanted to move as a whole. […]

noTES A REACTION TO RADICAL PHILOSOPHY J.M.Hinton No one, I believe, can yet say with any confidence to what extent the ‘mere’ attempt to uproot perennial forms of falsehood from our ways of thinking may itself change the world. If only for this reason, it is a mistake to reach the conclusion that contemporary British […]

REUIEWS THEORIES OF PRACTICE Richard Norman Richard J. Bernstein, Praxis and Action, Duckworth – 1972; £3.95 One of the declared aims of Radical Philosophy is to draw on alternative philosophical traditions as a way of overcoming the inadequacies of analytical philosophy. This is not to say that any of the other dominant traditions offers a […]

REPORTS LEEDS To give an account of the effect that Radical Philosophy has had inside the Department of Philosophj at Leeds, it is necessary to explain what had been happening in this department prior to the emergence of this journal. Staff-Student Committees within the University are now about 5 years old; the Philosophy committee is […]

THE STADSI [On[EPTIOn OF POLITI[S Tanv Skillen philosophically sanctified. Moral and Political Philosophy are taught as separate fields: evidently the problems of the politician (the Statesman) are not the problems of the ordinary chap, save at such times when the ordinary chap goes to the po:ls or lobbies his M.P. (the Citizen) or marches to […]

PHILOSOPHY mTHE A[ADRY J.m.[ahen The following polemic began life as a reaction to the frustrations of various discussions with professional philosophers of issues that are central to the radical transformation of social relationships from alienated and oppressive ones to free, equal-socialist-social relations. It is addressed primarily to people in or near to the movement, and […]

posItIve suggestions I have made: but I think it symptomatic of our state that we don’t have lots of ideas – and activities going about this. Maybe not everyone in sympathy with the general idea of radical philosophy feels these needs. When talk about new modes of communicating, this must include more or less regular […]