Studies of the Paris Manuscripts (The Turning Point of Marx) ||

This book is devoted to the studies of Karl Marx’s Paris Manuscripts and presents a new interpretation of early Marx, arguing that his transition to maturity can be found in these manuscripts, and specifically in Comments on James Mill, which was drafted between the First Manuscript and the Second Manuscript. In Comments on James Mill, Marx succeeds in transferring his theoretical framework from the isolated individual to the society and establishes his basic goal, i.e., to explicate the nature of humans and society from the perspective of external economic relations, marking the advent of historical materialism. This study reopens the possibility of interpreting the Paris Manuscripts from the perspective of Hegel. According to the author, it was during the Paris Manuscripts period that Marx shifted his theoretical foundations from Feuerbach to Hegel. On the basis of Hegel’s alienation concept, Marx constructs a new form of alienation theory with “alienation of intercourse” at its core. The theoretical challenge tackled by this book is to restore the authority of alienation theory, and strengthen the position of the Paris Manuscripts in the history of Marx thought, so as to rearrange the traditional landscape of research on early Marx thought. This interpretation, proposed and published for the first time in the world, could compete with the theses of Louis Althusser and Hiromatsu Wataru, which consider Die deutsche Ideologie to be the turning point of Marx. Further, it represents a significant contribution by a Chinese scholar to the international research on Marx. Preface The Paris Manuscripts: Turning Point of Marx’s Thought Three Explanatory Models of the “Karl Marx Problem” New Paradigm in the Studies of Early Marx: The Paris Manuscripts Hallmark of the Transition of Marx’s Thought: The Emergence of the Vantage Point of Social Relations Summary Preface to the English Edition Translator’s Note Contents Chapter 1: From State to Civil Society I 1.1 The Transition of Marx 1.2 The Economic Nature of the Civil Society Concept 1.2.1 Three Principles of Civil Society 1.2.2 Hegel and Smith 1.2.2.1 Smith’s Productive Labor and Hegel’s Labor Concepts 1.2.2.2 Smith’s Division of Labor and Hegel’s “System of Needs” 1.2.2.3 Smith’s “Invisible Hand” and Hegel’s Notion of Society 1.2.2.4 Differences Between Hegel and Smith 1.2.3 Civil Society as Economic Society 1.3 Marx’s Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law 1.3.1 The Contradiction Within Hegel’s Notion of the State 1.3.2 Identity or Opposition 1.3.3 The Significance of Heterogeneity 1.4 The Notion of Civil Society Within the Framework of the Philosophy of Law 1.5 Summary Chapter 2: From State to Civil Society II 2.1 The Prelude to Marx’s Transition 2.2 The Unexpected Function of the Theory of Human Emancipation 2.3 The Problem of the Disappearance of State 2.4 Summary Chapter 3: Is “Return to Hess” Actually Essential? 3.1 Cornu’s “Return to Hess” 3.1.1 Characteristics of Hess’s Thought 3.1.2 From Fichte to Feuerbach 3.1.3 Hess’s Influence on the Paris Manuscripts 3.2 Hess Studies in Japan 3.2.1 Yamanaka and Hata’s Critique of Cornu 3.2.2 Hiromatsu’s Theory of Hess’s Overwhelming Influence 3.2.3 Rachi’s Synthesis of Previous Standpoints 3.3 Hess Studies in China 3.3.1 Cai Hou’s Pioneering Study 3.3.2 Yibing Zhang’s Hess-Centered Construction in Back to Marx 3.4 Limitations of Hess’s Thought 3.4.1 Lack of Hegel’s Dialectic 3.4.2 Superficial Understanding of Political Economy 3.5 Summary Chapter 4: Philological Studies of the Paris Manuscripts and Their Significance 4.1 Definition of the Paris Manuscripts 4.2 Philological Focus on the Paris Manuscripts 4.2.1 Pioneering Studies of Japanese Scholars 4.2.2 Lapin’s Division of Two Stages 4.2.3 The Problematic Ordering of MEGA2 4.2.4 Rojahn’s Hypothesis 4.3 The Credibility of Taubert’s Hypothesis 4.3.1 Philological Facts 4.3.2 The Basis of Theoretical Deduction 4.4 Summary Chapter 5: The Fallacy in the Four Aspects of Alienated Labor 5.1 The Distinction Between Hegel and Feuerbach’s Concepts of Alienation 5.1.1 Hegel: Alienation Leads to Man’s Socialization 5.1.2 Feuerbach: The Self-Alienation of Isolated Individual 5.2 Inconsistency Between the First and the Second Aspect 5.2.1 The First Aspect: Alienation of Nature or Alienation of Product? 5.2.2 The Second Aspect: The “Other” in “Self-Alienation” 5.2.3 Mochizuki’s Question 5.3 The Third Aspect: The Particularity of the Alienation of Species-Essence 5.4 The Fourth Aspect: The Conundrum of the “Alienation of Man from Man” 5.5 Summary Chapter 6: Is Marx’s Alienated Labor Theory Circular Reasoning? 6.1 Origin of the Aporia 6.2 The Semblance of Circular Reasoning 6.2.1 Tadashi’s Question 6.2.2 Hiromatsu’s Explanation 6.2.3 Yamanouchi’s Review 6.3 Deciphering the Enigma of Circular Reasoning: The History of Private Property 6.3.1 Differentiation of Concepts 6.3.2 Historical Theory of Private Property 6.4 Definitive Solution to Marx’s Aporia: From Isolated Individual to Society 6.5 Summary Chapter 7: The Logic of the Transition from Individual to Society in Phänomenologie des Geistes 7.1 Hegel’s Answer to the Aporia of Modernity 7.2 The Theory of Sache selbst in Chapter C. (AA) Reason 7.2.1 The Mediation of Sache selbst 7.2.1.1 An Outline of Sache selbst 7.2.1.2 Justification of Universality in the Object of the Individual 7.2.1.3 Justification of Sociality in the Individual’s Deed 7.2.2 The Inversion of the Relation Between Man and Sache 7.2.2.1 The Separation Between End and Outcome 7.2.2.2 The Structure of Reification 7.2.2.3 Formal Universality Chapter 8: The Logic of the Transition from Individual to Society in the Jena Manuscript of Philosophie des Geistes 8.1 From the “Tragedy of Ethical Life” to the Advent of Sprit in the Jena System 8.1.1 System of Ethical Life in the Early Jena Period 8.1.1.1 “Tragedy of Ethical Life” 8.1.1.2 Self-Contradiction in the Model of the Recognition Theory 8.1.2 Philosophy of Spirit in the Late Jena Period 8.1.2.1 The Application of Economic Principles 8.1.2.2 From Cultivation to Knowledge 8.2 Summary Chapter 9: The New Vantage Point on Comments on James Mill 9.1 Money and Alienation of Man 9.1.1 The Independence of the Mediator: Money 9.1.2 The Nature of Money: Alienation of Private Property 9.1.3 Alienation of Morals: Credit 9.2 The Opposition Between Man’s Essence and Private Property 9.2.1 Gemeinwesen as Man’s Essence 9.2.2 Private Property as the Externalized Essence 9.3 From Gainful Labor to the True Production 9.3.1 Definition of Gainful Labor 9.3.2 The Triumph of Sache and True Production 9.4 Hegel in Comments on James Mill 9.4.1 The Similarity Between Hegel and Marx 9.4.2 The Difference Between Hegel and Marx 9.5 Summary Chapter 10: The Alienation of Intercourse in Comments on James Mill: The Turning Point of Marx 10.1 The Philological Starting Point for Studies of Comments on James Mill 10.2 The Flaw of the Alienated Labor Theory 10.2.1 The Structure of Alienated Labor 10.2.2 The Problem of the Forth Aspect of Alienated Labor 10.3 Alienation of Intercourse and Social Relation 10.3.1 The Structure of Alienation of Intercourse 10.3.2 The Vantage Point of Social Relations 10.4 Comments on James Mill and Hess 10.4.1 Comparison Between the First Manuscript and Comments on James Mill 10.4.2 Comparison Between Hess and Marx 10.5 Summary Chapter 11: Alienation and Reification 11.1 Differentiation and Analysis of Concepts 11.1.1 Reification and Fetishism 11.1.2 Distinctions Between Alienation and Reification 11.1.3 The Hazy Thingification Concept 11.2 Opposition Between Mochizuki and Hiromatsu on the Problem of the Alienation Theory 11.2.1 Hiromatsu’s Negation of the Alienation Theory 11.2.2 Mochizuki’s Critique of Hiromatsu 11.3 Assessment of the “Debate over Early Marx” 11.3.1 Is Alienation of Intercourse a New Form of Alienation? 11.3.2 The Reason of Hiromatsu’s Dismissal of Alienated Intercourse 11.3.3 Lack of Understanding of Hegel 11.4 Summary 11.5 Appendix: Reflection on Casting Couch Incidents from the Perspective of Marx’s Reification Theory Chapter 12: The Turning Point of Marx’s View on Communism 12.1 Marx’s Conversion to Communism 12.2 Marx’s Critique of Early Communist Theories 12.2.1 The History of Early Communism 12.2.2 Forms of Modern Communism 12.2.3 German “Philosophical Communism” 12.3 The Concept of “Society” in the Paris Manuscripts 12.3.1 The Positive Supersession of Private Property 12.3.2 The Resolution of the Contradiction Between Man and Nature, Between Individual and Species 12.3.3 The Complete Restoration of Man’s Nature 12.3.4 Communism as Movement 12.4 Summary Chapter 13: The Transition from Feuerbach to Hegel 13.1 Objectivity: The Truth of Materialism 13.1.1 Feuerbach’s Contribution 13.1.2 Hegel’s “Double Error” 13.1.3 Non-identity of Subject and Object (Objekt) 13.2 The Naturalist Conception of Man 13.2.1 Man as “A Part of Nature” 13.2.2 “Man’s Inorganic Body” 13.2.3 Man’s Character of Species-Essence 13.3 Assimilation of Hegel’s Dialectic 13.3.1 From Negative Alienation to Positive Alienation 13.3.2 The Dialectic of Alienation and Communism 13.4 Summary Chapter 14: Is Objectification Identical to Alienation? 14.1 Lukács’s Proposition 14.2 Fujino’s Explanation of Entgegenständlichung 14.2.1 Kurella, Stiehler and Cornu 14.2.2 The Explanation Problem of Entgegenständlichung 14.3 Marx’s Concept of Alienation 14.3.1 Hegel’s Objectification and Alienation 14.3.2 Marx’s Twofold View of Alienation 14.3.3 The Debate Over Lukács’s Proposition 14.4 Summary Afterword: Our Time in the Text “Child of His Time” Why the Paris Manuscripts? Why Hegel? Acknowledgments Bibliography Major Works Hegel Jenaer kritische Schriften Über die wissenschaftlichen Behandlungsarten des Naturrechts System der Sittlichkeit Jenaer Systementwürfe I Jenaer Systementwürfe III Phänomenologie des Geistes Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse Marx & Engels James Mill: Élémens d’économie politique Ökonomisch-Philosophische Manuskripte Other Works Cited Secondary Literature A C D F H I K L M N O P R S T U W X Y Z