Marxism: Science or Humanism | Matthew McManus, Conrad Hamilton, Michael J. Ardoline

𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗸𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼-𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗞𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗞𝗼𝗺𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀

𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟱 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟭𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗦𝗧

𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87694160613 ------ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘅𝗶𝘀𝗺: 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺 | 𝗔 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗰𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗿𝗮𝗱 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗝. 𝗔𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲

Marxism: Science or Humanism? In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century—the “classical Marxist” period—the prevailing consensus amongst Marxist luminaries (Engels, Dietzgen, Lenin, etc.) was that it was indeed a science, comparable with the natural ones. The ossification of theoretical Marxism within the Second International (and, later, the USSR), however, soon gave rise to new intellectual currents. For György Lukács, Marxism is closer to the Hegelian Wissenschaft than a conventional science in so far as it “does not acknowledge the existence of independent sciences” but rather portrays “nothing but a single, unified--dialectical and historical--science of the evolution of society as a totality.” And for Antonio Gramsci, Marxism is not a science but true in a socially pragmatic sense: by articulating the class consciousness of the proletariat, it summed up the truth of its time more effectively than any other theory. To these names we could add that of Louis Althusser, who—in the 1960s and 70s—mounted an ambitious ‘third way’ defense of Marxism’s besieged scientific status by blending together French historical epistemology, structuralism, and Spinoza.

In this seminar, Matthew McManus and Conrad Hamilton will present papers arguing that Marxism is most effectively understood as a humanism or science respectively. For McManus, rather than being afraid of arguing for humanism from a normative standpoint, Marxists would benefit from assuming the burdens of moral judgment and asserting for the viability of their position relative to theoretical competitors. For Hamilton, by contrast, Marxism is a science in so far as it—as Roy Bhaskar points out—applies a retroductive method in which a posteriori concepts are used to elucidate the structure of reality. Yet what renders Marxism distinct from other sciences is that it is the only one capable of bringing to light the structure and genesis of science itself.

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀:

Matthew McManus:

Some Remarks on Marx’s Philosophy and Philosophical Methodology

https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/clogic/article/view/191605?fbclid=IwAR31EKbCDEBt9m-ilbtNPPMuG5R7K9N4JLeRxtLA6T70AeXLZxwOOQRVMmg

What Karl Marx Really Thought About Liberalism

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/karl-marx-liberalism-rights-igor-shoikhedbrod-review?fbclid=IwAR0-ugILv_n8z5xJX8NzGx9XPN3Zfp9MfY_72B23fQ-HND016OlRaSpZOzc

What Liberalism Gets Right — And Wrong

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/liberalism-socialism-irving-howe?fbclid=IwAR3Emow-OY1hkj6vzfXahLozdWKQy8M2TVC-xrjZ_89o1FwCiWAh6cvKSOo

Matthew McManus’𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

Irving Howe, “Liberalism and socialism, articles of conciliation” Erich Fromm, The Sane Society Igor Shoikhedbrod, Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism

Conrad Hamilton ’𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

Alfred Sohn-Rethel, Intellectual and Manual Labour “Althusser and the Concept of the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Sciences,” Pierre Macherey (trans. Robin MacKay) “Roy Bhaskar’s Critical Realism and the Social Science of Marxian Economics,” Richard Westra

Participant Bios:

Matt McManus is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics at Whitman College. He is the author of The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism and A Critical Legal Examination of Liberalism and Liberal Rights amongst other books. Matt is also a member of the Plastic Pills podcast.

Conrad Hamilton is a doctoral student at Paris 8 University, currently developing a thesis on the relationship between value and agency in the work of Karl Marx under the supervision of Catherine Malabou. He is a co-author of Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson.

Michael J. Ardoline recently completed his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Memphis. His current work argues for a grounding of mathematical truth in the necessity of difference, based on the metaphysics of Gilles Deleuze.