Marx Critique Of Science And Positivism

political economy. With this in mind the reader will be taken through three meta-theoretical levels of Marx' method of analysis of the struc tures of capitalism: (1) the clarification of 'critique' and method from Kant's epistemology, Hegel's phenomenology, to Marx' political economy (Chapter One); (2) the analysis of 'critique' and time, that is, the temporal dimensions of the critical method as they evolve from Hegel's Logic to Marx' Capital and the difference between the use of the future in explanatory, positivist science and 'critique' (Chapter Two); (3) and finally, 'critique' and materialism, a study of the complexity of the category of materialism, the ambivalence and ambiguity of its use in Marx' critical method, and the ontological and logical dilemmas created by the Schelling-Feuerbach turn toward materialism in their critique of Hegel (Chapter Three). The critique of political economy is, therefore, examined at the levels of methodology, temporality, and ontology. To what do the categories of political economy really refer when the positivist interpretations of Marx have been shattered and 'critique' be comes the method of choice? What kind of knowledge do we have if it is no longer "scientific" in the traditional sense of both epistemology and methodology? And what kind of applicability will it have when its format is such as not to produce predictive, technical knowledge, but practical knowledge in the Greek sense of the word (Praxis)? What be comes of the criterion of truth when epistemology itself, like science, is

Focusing on the methodological principles which underlie sociologists' study of social reality, this text offers clarification and outlines how the different approaches to study originate from various methodogical and philosophical traditions.

This title was first published in 2001. The book aims to give a clear and accessible account of Marx’s method and an assessment of its scientific validity and relevance to contemporary social science; The key methodological themes of Marx’s work and their development are shown with particular attention paid to the elements of dialectics and materialism; Four models of science are outlined-positivism; critical rationalism; scientific conventionalism; scientific realism - and the arguments and evidence both for and against Marx’s method corresponding to any of them examined. The conclusion arrived at is that Marx’s method is a good example of social scientific practice according to the scientific realist model and that it has a positive contribution to make to social science today.realism.

Sociology is an established academic discipline but there has been continuing debate over its status as a science and the nature of its subject matter. This led to the emergence of a phenomenological sociology and to critiques of positivist sociology. This critical reappraisal of the relevance of Marxian analysis for a science of society shows how these developments within sociology have had their counterpart in Marxism. The author analyses the status of Marx’s work and the Marxist ‘tradition’ in sociology. He focuses upon those concerns which are common to both Marxian analysis and sociology – the question of subjectivity; the nature of social reality; and the dialectical relationship of the ‘doing’ or practice of a science of society to the social world within which such social analyses are situated. Originally published in 1976.

In Language and Production, Gyorgy Markus presents us with a pro found critique of contemporary social theory: of the philosophy and methodology of the social sciences; of the philosophy of language; of hermeneutics and critical theory; and finally, of Marx and of Marxisms. The sweep of Markus' project is complemented by the extraordinary detail of his analysis and the elaborately developed argument which gives the work its clear logical structure: it is a dialectical work. Markus begins with a critique of the paradigm of language and of that scientific ra tionality modeled on language, as frameworks for the understanding of social reality, and for a rational 'science of society' . After revealing what he takes to be the essential failure of that paradigm in its positivist ver sion (in the work of Sir Karl Popper, who, he argues, remains within the positivist framework despite his differences with other positivists) - Markus examines the alternative interpretations of that paradigm in the hermeneutic tradition from Dilthey through Heidegger and Gadamer, and then in the structural anthropology of Claude Levi-Strauss and in the philosophy of language of Ludwig Wittgenstein. In all of these approaches, Markus sees a systematic flaw in the at tempt to frame human action as one or another form of linguistic prac tice, or even to read human self-constitution as essentially linguistic.

A masterful survey of the history of Marxist philosophy of science Sheehan retraces the development of a Marxist philosophy of science through detailed and highly readable accounts of the debates that shaped it. Skilfully deploying a large cast of characters, Sheehan shows how Marx and Engel’s ideas on the development and structure of natural science had a crucial impact on the work of early twentieth-century natural philosophers, historians of science, and natural scientists. With a new afterword by the author.

In recent years a host of Western Marxists have tried to emancipate Marx from responsibility for various unsavory doctrines. Political theorists have argued that Marx can avoid the weight of Stalinism and also the various theories, such as positivism, naturalism, Darwinism, technological determinism and the dialectics of nature that support Marxism. In the course of building up their defense of Marx, these modern critics have developed an elaborate but often confusing rationale whose premise consists of attributing many of the nefarious tendencies of Marxism to Engels, particularly the latter's philosophy of nature. In Mainlining Marx, John L. Stanley sets Marx's view of nature back in its proper perspective. Stanley challenges the "new orthodoxy" of prominent Marxist scholars who see a fundamental dichotomy between Marx and Engels with the latter believing in cosmic superlaws and the former adhering to historically grounded ones. Stanley argues both Marx and Engels used historical and transhistorical laws at various times. He is highly critical of those who abstract theoretical principles out of texts Marx wrote with specific and historical political goals in mind. He takes issue, as well, with critics who posit a Marxian belief in communist as against natural needs, and further challenges the new orthodoxy in his analysis of Marx's dissertation, showing that from the beginning Marx's thought was grounded in materialist determinism. Supplementing the chapters on Marx and his critics, the volume concludes with an essay on Georges Sorel's approach to textual analysis and interpretation, showing how Sorel, far in advance of his time realized the impossibility of completely objective analysis and the inevitable distortion of the subject under study. Throughout this volume, Stanley's critical approach utilizes Sorel's illuminating insights to point out the distortions in modern Marxian analysis. Challenging and original, Mainlining Marx is a major contribution to the study of Marxism. It will be read by economists, political scientists, and intellectual historians.