File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9706, message 110


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	  
									
	
	
	 

								
					
							


 




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