Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason (Why Marx Rejected Politics and the Market) (The Reynolds Series in Sociology)

Why did Karl Marx want to exclude politics and the market from his vision of a future socialism? In Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason, Allan Megill begins with this question. Megill's examination of Marx's formative writings casts new light on Marx's relation to philosophy and reveals a hitherto largely unknown 'rationalist' Marx. In demonstrating how Marx's rationalism permeated his attempts to understand politics, economics, and history generally, Megill forces the reader to rethink Marx's entire intellectual project. While Megill writes as an intellectual historian and historian of philosophy, his highly original redescription of the Marxian enterprise has important implications for how we think about the usability of Marx's work today. Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason will be of interest to those who wish to reflect on the fate of Marxism during the era of Soviet Communism. It will also be of interest to those who wish to discern what is living and what is dead, what is adequate and what requires replacement or supplementation, in the work of a figure who, in spite of everything, remains one of the greatest philosophers and social scientists of the modern world. Why did Karl Marx want to exclude politics and the market from his vision of a future socialism? Allan Megill begins with this question. In answering it, he forces the reader to rethink Marx's entire intellectual project. Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason has important implications for how we think about the usability of Marx's work today. It will be of interest both to those who wish to reflect on the fate of Marxism during the era of Soviet Communism, and to those who wish to discern what is adequate and what requires replacement or supplementation in the work of a figure who, in spite of everything, remains one of the greatest philosophers and social scientists of the modern world. Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Dedication 5 Contents 9 Abbreviations 11 Preface 13 Acknowledgments 23 1 Marx's Rationalism: How the Dialectic Came from the History of Philosophy 27 2 Why Marx Rejected Politics 83 3 Why Marx Rejected Private Property and the Market 149 4 The Character and Limits of Marx's Unified Rational History of Humankind 207 Conclusion: For and Against Marxism 261 Appendix: A Topically Organized List of Marx's Journalistic Writings of 1842-43 297 Notes 303 Bibliography 373 Index 379 About the Author 393 Chapter 1 Preface and Acknowledgments Chapter 2 Marx's Rationalism: How the Dialectic Came From the History of Philosophy Chapter 3 Why Marx Rejected Politics Chapter 4 Why Marx Rejected Private Property and the Market Chapter 5 The Character and Limits of Marx's Unified Rational History of Humankind Chapter 6 Conclusion: For and Against Marxism Chapter 7 Appendix: A Topically Organized List of Marx's Journalistic Writings of 1842-43 Chapter 8 Notes Chapter 9 Bibliography Chapter 10 Index