Lukács’s Phenomenology of Capitalism: Reification Revalued (Political Philosophy and Public Purpose)

This book offers a radical new interpretation of Georg Lukács’s __History and Class Consciousness__, showing for the first time how the philosophical framework for his analysis of society was laid in the drafts of a philosophy of art that he planned but never completed before he converted to Marxism. Reading Lukács’s work through the so-called “Heidelberg Aesthetics” reveals for the first time a range of unsuspected influences on his thought, such as Edmund Husserl, Emil Lask, and Alois Riegl; it also offers a theory of subjectivity within social relations that avoids many of the problems of earlier readings of his text. At a time when Lukács’s reputation is once more on the rise, this bold new reading helps revitalize his thought in ways that help it speak to contemporary concerns. This book offers a radical new interpretation of Georg Lukács's History and Class Consciousness, showing for the first time how the philosophical framework for his analysis of society was laid in the drafts of a philosophy of art that he planned but never completed before he converted to Marxism. Reading Lukács's work through the so-called "Heidelberg Aesthetics" reveals for the first time a range of unsuspected influences on his thought, such as Edmund Husserl, Emil Lask, and Alois Riegl; it also offers a theory of subjectivity within social relations that avoids many of the problems of earlier readings of his text. At a time when Lukács's reputation is once more on the rise, this bold new reading helps revitalize his thought in ways that help it speak to contemporary concerns.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction: The Lukács Debate (Richard Westerman)....Pages 1-30 Front Matter ....Pages 31-31 Reality and Representation in Art (Richard Westerman)....Pages 33-82 The History of History and Class Consciousness (Richard Westerman)....Pages 83-111 Front Matter ....Pages 113-113 The Forms of Social Reality (Richard Westerman)....Pages 115-151 The Interpellation of the Subject (Richard Westerman)....Pages 153-199 Self-consciousness and Identity (Richard Westerman)....Pages 201-237 Front Matter ....Pages 239-239 The Social and the Natural (Richard Westerman)....Pages 241-274 Conclusion: Lukács in Late Capitalism (Richard Westerman)....Pages 275-302 Back Matter ....Pages 303-308 This book offers a radical new interpretation of Georg Lukacs's History and Class Consciousness, showing for the first time how the philosophical framework for his analysis of society was laid in the drafts of a philosophy of art that he planned but never completed before he converted to Marxism.