Why Habermas?

WBY BA.BERMAS ? LINDA J. NICHOLSON’ There exist two ways to deny an idea. One is to label it false. The other is to call it non-important, more effectively achieved by not discussing it all. Mainstream philosophy in both England and the United states has skilfully employed the art of nondiscussion to deny ideas antithetical […]

The ‘New Philosophers’ and the End of Leftism

THI ‘NIW PHILOSOPHIRS’ AND THI IND or LlrTISM Peter Dews Introduction Fashion moves fast in Parisian salons, and the taste for intellectual scandal demands the constant breaking of fresh taboos. Three years ago, in the spring of 1977, a group of young authors styling themselves the ‘New Philosophers’ moved rapidly to the centre of attention, […]

Anarchism and Private Property

ANARCHISM AND PRIVATI PROPERTY Derek Browne No more government of man by man, by means of the accumulation of powers; no more exploitation of man by man, by means of the accumulation of capital. Proudhon (1) The majority of anarchists have been dedicated opponents of capitalism, of those forms of society which arise on the […]

Marxist Modes

MARXIST MODIS lonathan Rea 1 Here is a tempting book* – a kind of teach-yourself the new semiotics, a simple primer about Barthes, Lacan and post-Althusserian Marxis m. I came across it by accident, when I saw it peeping out of a friend’s luggage. ‘It’s very good, ‘ I was told: ‘inspiring and clear ‘. […]

Philosophical Materialism or the Materialist Conception of History

PHILOSOPHICAL MATERIALISM OR THE MATERIALIST CONCEPTION or HISTORY Alison Assiter Introduction ‘Marxism is a materialism’. This idea has become co.mmonplace. Usually, it amounts to placing Marx and Marxism inside a philosophical tradition; one whose roots lie in the atomistic philosophies of De.mocritus and Epicurus. Much r~cent ‘Marxist’ materialism imitates or reproduces many of the ideas […]

Revolution and Discontinuity

rather than sweep them away in a torrent of technical jargon. On the other hand, there can be no general recipe for clarity and good style, if only because the personal flair of the writer will always, and rightly, be a contributory factor, and because the nature of the material under consideration must to some […]

Racism: the New Inheritors

RACISM – THE NEW INIIIRITORS Martin Barker PART I – THE NEW RACISM “1 think the nation can expect that, when they are announced, the Conservative proposals on immigration will be common-sense proposals. ” (William White law , March 1978) “Common-sense is the practical ideology of the ruling class. ” (Gramsci) 1 Introduction The resurgence […]

An Introduction to Derrida

AN INTRODUCTION TO DERRIDA DC.Wood Introduction In 1967 Derrida made an impressive entrance onto the French intellectual stage by publishing two collections of essays and a short study of the early Husserl (1967, 1,2,3). The importance of this intervention stemmed from the fact that while he endorsed the critical distance from phenomenology that was de […]

The attack on civil rights in West Germany

The atlack on civilrighlS in Wesl Germany Claudia van Braunmuhl Introductory note equated with ‘sympathy for terrorism’, protest against the policy has not been silenced, but continues to grow. The various groups in West Germany struggling to defend and recover basic democratic rights have repeatedly appealed for support and solidarity from other countries, noting the […]

Althusser’s epistemology: The limits of the theory of theoretical practice

ALTHUSSBR’S BPISTBMOLOGY: Ihe limils of Ihe Iheo..y of Iheo..elical p ..aclice PaulPatton concepts and theses which would permit the demarcation of science from other kinds of theoretical discourse. Dialectical materialism, then, was thought to be the philosophical theory Within which the scientific character of historical materialism could be demonstrated. Althusser’s marxist philosophy, however, was no […]

Eduction for Industry

that needs to be put into question. For Althusser only repeats in Spinozist form the operation which is common to all epistemological theories of demarcation of science from other kinds of theoretical discourse. That is, to attempt to provide a philosophical justification for a particular social selection and hierarchical distribution of theoretical discourses, a certain […]

Kant as a problem for Marxism

Kall. as a JRoblelD to.. Ma..xislD Martin Barker ,The relation between the thought of Immanuel Kant and the Marxist movement has been a distinctly problematic one. Kant, as the founder of the German idealist school, was recognised by Marx as one important precursor of his own theory in a general sense. But his understanding of […]

Post-Marxist Modes of Production

POST-MARXIST M I ‘) .. or PRODUCTION According to whoever wrote the editorial ‘notes’ for Radical Philosophy 17, ‘The present upsurge of fundamental Marxist researches may indicate an exit route from the circle of philosophy’s –deaths and re births , via which the problem of the specificity of “the philosophical” might be both subverted and […]

In Defence of Epistemology

R2~ If I believed in the imminent collapse of capitalism from forces internal to the economy (falling rate of profit etc), then my evaluation of movements would be affected by this. But Hindess and Hirst, while pointing this out, insist that my calculation of consequences; is itself a function of my political position (evafuation). So […]

A Critique of Authenticity

aCRlTlOUl or AUTlllNTICITY Roger ‘Wa.terhouse Central to the philosophy of Heidegger and Sartre is the call to be authentic. (1). They say ‘Examine your life; jon It you fool people, mislead them, hide yourself, live a lie? Don’t you fool yourself, pretend you are being altruistic, cover up your motives, hide from your own guilt? […]

On Mao’s ‘On Practice’

Rip Bwdkeley ‘At this time we arranged for a conference at West Lake, ‘Hangchow. This was early in 1922. The leading partieipants were Chen Tu-hsiu, Li Ta-chao, Chang Kuo-tao, I thi~, Chiu Chiu-pei, and one other, a very capable Hunanese student whose name I do not recall.’ Henk Sneevliet (alias Maring) to Harold Isaacs 1935 […]