Open Marxism - Relationship To Heideggerian and Hegelian Marxism

Relationship To Heideggerian and Hegelian Marxism

Axelos' variant of Open Marxism makes explicit connections to the existentialist critique of systems theory. He uses Martin Heidegger's phenomenology to reveal an open system of relations (loosely rule-governed "play") rather than a closed and deterministic totality that could be known and predicted by Marxist theory. For example, Axelos critiques theories of globalization that assume a closed world picture, as opposed to an open-ended process of world-forming (mondialisation) in which the neoliberal project to 'restructure' a crisis-ridden capitalism lacks a firm structural foundation. Axelos tries to maintain the unity of knowledge, even if he sees the world as multidimensional and unrepresentable (see world disclosure for the phenomenological concept of world). This was a departure from the Heideggerian Marxism of the early Herbert Marcuse, which was, like others in the Frankfurt School, influenced by Hegelianism.

While the majority of Open Marxists have rejected Hegelian Marxist approaches, there is also a tendency to interpret the work of Antonio Gramsci as non-Hegelian, or a departure from orthodox theory and practice. Thus, Open Marxism has served as the basis for neo-Gramscian research in international relations by Stephen Gill and Robert W. Cox, although some question the openness of metaphors such as "war of position" and "historic bloc" for analysis of micro-interactions and resistance within contemporary neoliberalism.

Read more about this topic:  Open Marxism

Famous quotes containing the words relationship to, relationship, hegelian and/or marxism:

    ... the Wall became a magnet for citizens of every generation, class, race, and relationship to the war perhaps because it is the only great public monument that allows the anesthetized holes in the heart to fill with a truly national grief.
    Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)

    Whatever may be our just grievances in the southern states, it is fitting that we acknowledge that, considering their poverty and past relationship to the Negro race, they have done remarkably well for the cause of education among us. That the whole South should commit itself to the principle that the colored people have a right to be educated is an immense acquisition to the cause of popular education.
    Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)

    Whilst Marx turned the Hegelian dialectic outwards, making it an instrument with which he could interpret the facts of history and so arrive at an objective science which insists on the translation of theory into action, Kierkegaard, on the other hand, turned the same instruments inwards, for the examination of his own soul or psychology, arriving at a subjective philosophy which involved him in the deepest pessimism and despair of action.
    Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968)

    There’s something about Marxism that brings out warts—the only kind of growth this economic system encourages.
    —P.J. (Patrick Jake)