Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:27:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Kevin Cabral <kcabral-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us> Subject: Re: M-TH: Lukacs On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Peter Farruggio wrote: > In the discussion on Sidney Hook somebody mentioned Lukacs. I came across > Lukacs' name a while ago in some research on Marxist psychology and the > conception of consciousness. Can somebody give me a thumbnail sketch of > who Lukacs was and what did he write about? For example, what was his > relationship to the organized communist movement, what was the essence of > his philosophy, what did he write about, and maybe some of his writings > that are available in local bookstores? Georg Lukacs (pronounced something like Lou-cash) formed a metaphysical theory of class consciousness, which he later characterized as a silly attempt to out-Hegel Hegel in metaphysical construction of transcendent world-historical things, that tried to resolve Marx's distinction between "objective" and "subjective" interests of a class in his "History and Class Consciousness." This distinction between the objective and subjective is a distinction between the proletariat's objective rational interests contrasted with their subjective actions. In Lukacs' system the class consciousness of the proletariat is quite intransitive; once the class is formed historically by capitalism it's interests are always objective -- they must expropriate the expropriators. Lukacs sees his system as a reconstruction and clarification of Marx's thought, and as a foundation for political action. These interests can be determined by assuming a hypothetical situation in which individuals representative of classes in society are asked to make considered judgments about their own interests; given the knowledge which the sciences of society have produced about the relations between classes in modern society, and the courses of actions which would benefit one class at the expense of another. These interests have a historical existence, even though they are metaphysical, in so far as they are expressions of the judgments that classes would make if they had the necessary information. Thus it is the purpose of the communist party to organize itself so as, in all cases, to make the knowledge of the relations between classes abundantly clear to the proletariat who then, realizing it's own interests, can become a "class for itself." That is one in struggle for it's own interests. Lukacs, rightly, recanted this argument because it rests on shoddy epistemic grounds. The attribution of historical existence to some yet unrealized consciousness runs very contrary to Marx's materialist ontology, and more importantly a sound scientific reasoning about things which actually exist. We should use Occam's razor here so as to avoid having to justify the idealist ontology that it implies. A more sound reasoning would deny the existence of "class consciousness" that has yet to be expressed. Instead we should stress the original distinction between subjectivity and objectivity while realizing that we cannot honestly say that class consciousness exists, but only that it has a possibility of existing. That the class consciousness of the proletariat is only given an existence through the action of the proletariat. We don't need the Hegelian stuff about the "subject-object" of history, or the Marxian-Hegelian stuff from The German Ideology about the "world-historical existence of the proletariat" to say this. I've only discussed one of the two most famous arguments here from _History and Class Consciousness_ and I will admit to having read nothing else from Lukacs except for two literary essays. The other, I suppose, is the argument that the Marxian dialectic is the ultimate contribution of Marx to the science of society, and that even if all of Marx's arguments were disproved by sound reasoning we could still credit Marx with the first great clarification of dialectical, and therefore sound, inquiry. See "What is Orthodox Marxism?" in the same collection (assuming you get the recent MIT Press version) for more on this matter. I have little idea, though, about the psychological implications of Lukacs' argument in H&CC. Though I would venture to say that it bears some resemblance to psychoanalysis in its methodology. The proletariat's understanding of its consciousness and subsequent liberation is relatively like the psychanalytic subject's understanding of its consciousness. Lukacs himself was a Hungarian who ventured throughout his life between idealism of his youth to his Marxism (which in H&CC is very youthful) of 1919 onward. During the short government of Bela Kun he served as Minister of Education, and when the government was overthrown he took exile in Russia, Austria, and probably some other places that I don't remember. He is probably studied today more by literary critics than philosophers, since his early epistemology has become branded on Lukacs' name and even in lectures given by professors of philosophy, who should be better educated on the history of Lukacs' thought, today H&CC is synonymous with the philosophy of Lukacs. After WW2 and the Communist revolution in Hungary he returned to become Chair of Aesthetics at the University of Hungary (?). He is often pictured in his library with a cigar, and is often cited as the humanist Marxist -- as opposed to the nasty, wicked Lenin and by inference (since humanist here is attached as a modification to Marxist by these men) Marx. He died sometime in the early 70s. 1973(?) maybe. Enough, let someone else fill in the biographical details. Or try looking at his bio in the Brittanica or Dictionary of Marxist Thought ed. Bottomore, Miliband, and others. For anyone who has paid attention to this letter, I would appreciate any commentary on the content of my interpretation (particularly of his epistemology) and also any suggestions on whether anything truly worth the time to read it exists in the body of Lukacs' mature work. I would particularly like to hear from Chris Burford on psychological implications. Kevin Columbus, Ohio --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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