Textbook for the Materialist Conception of History

Biographical Note

Max Adler (1873–1937) was one of the major theoretical figures of Austro-Marxism. A legal scholar and a philosopher, his writings are a major component of one of the most influential Marxist movements of the early twentieth century.

Mark E. Blum earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He published 14 books, six on Austrian Marxists and eight on phenomenological historical writing, which is central to Max Adler’s interpretation of Marxism.

Readership

This book is especially relevant to scholars of Austro-Marxism and Austrian socialism, graduate students of Marxism and European history, and those studying Marxist legal theory and Marxism’s relationship to the state.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface

Part 1: Basic Concepts

1 What Is Marxism?
1 The Materialist Conception of History – the Fundamentals of Marxism
2 Marxism Is Not Merely a Political Theory
3 Marxism Is Also Not Merely National Economy
4 The Relationship of the Materialist Conception of History and the Theory of Surplus Value to Each Other
5 Marxism Is Also Not a Worldview
6 Marxism, However, Can Be the Foundation of a Worldview
7 The Dialectic in Marx Is Not Necessarily an Element of a Worldview
8 Marxism Is the Science of Social Laws (Sociology)
9 Rejection of All Dogmatism

2 The Meaning of the Materialist Conception of History in the History of Ideas
1 Modern Scientific Thought Is Causal Observation
2 The Mechanistic Level of Causal Thinking
3 Causal Law Is Not Identical with Mechanistic Law
4 The Differentiation of Causality
5 Supplementation of Natural Law by Social Law
6 The Advance of Social Law Corresponds to the Advance of the Proletarian Revolution
7 Why the Meaning of Marxism Is Not Generally Recognized
8 Theory and Praxis
9 Marxism as the Conclusion of the Causal Understanding of Reality

3 Why the Materialist Conception of History Is Misunderstood
1 The Two Chief Hindrances to Understanding
2 The Lack of a Coherent Presentation of the Thought of Marx and Engels
3 The Theoretical Relationship between Marx and Engels
4 The Misleading Term “Materialist Conception of History”
5 The Materialist Conception of History Is Neither a Mere Conception nor a Method
6 The Materialist Conception of History Is Not Merely a View of History, but a Sociological Theory

4 Materialism and Marxism
1 The Conventional Interpretation of Marxist Materialism
2 Marxism and Materialism Differ as Much as Science and Metaphysics
3 Materialism Is Not Identical with Natural Science
4 Materialism Cannot Be Consistent up to Its Logical Conclusion
5 Like Every Metaphysics for Science, Materialism Is Irrelevant
6 The Cultural Politics of Materialism Conceals Its Metaphysics

5 Marx and Engels Position regarding Materialism
1 Both Periods of Modern Materialism
2 The Older Anglo-French Materialism
3 The Rejection of Older Materialism by Marx and Engels
4 The Later Natural Scientific Materialism
5 The Influence of Ludwig Feuerbach
6 The Philosophy of Feuerbach Is Not Materialism
7 “Materialism” in Feuerbach, Marx, and Engels Is Positivism
8 Why Marx and Engels Described Themselves as “Materialists”
9 “Material” in Marxism Means “Real”
10 Even the Word “Dialectic” Does Not Refer to Anything “Materialistic”
11 The Real Meaning of the so-Called Materialistic Conception of History

6 Karl Kautsky’s Materialism
1 The General Characteristics of the Materialist Direction of Marxism
2 Materialism as a Method
3 The Core of Materialism in Kautsky

7 Clarification of the Fundamental Philosophical Standpoint
1 The Dogmatic Starting Point
2 Metaphysics and Epistemology
3 Establishing the Terminology
4 Rejection of the Mechanical Materialism in Lenin
5 Materialism and Natural Science
6 The “Thing in Itself”
7 Epistemological Idealism Is Not Agnosticism
8 Epistemological Idealism Is Also Neither Subjectivism nor Solipsism

8 Materialism according to Lenin
1 Materialist Epistemology
2 Likeness Theory and Everyday Thought
3 Materialist Epistemology Cannot Be Substantiated and Is Thus Nonsensical
4 Sensation as Proof of Reality
5 Dualism in Lenin
6 Modern Natural Science and the Material
7 The Abandonment of the Material by Lenin
8 Historical Materialism
9 Conclusion: Liberation from False Problems

9 Fundamental Economic Principles
1 Economic Conditions
2 The Error of Economic Objectification
3 The Humanizing of Economic Conditions
4 Bringing the Human Spirit to Economic Conditions
5 The Productive Forces
6 The Objective Appearance of Productive Forces
7 The Spiritual Character of Material Work
8 Monism of Economics and Ideology

10 Discussion of Several Fundamental Misunderstandings
1 The Confusion of Economic Conditions with Economic Interests
2 Economic Determination Is Not Necessarily Rational
3 Economic Foundations Are Not to Be Understood Temporally

11 Concerning Ideology as Mere Appearance
1 The Objection of the Insubstantiality of Ideology
2 Ideology as Superstructure and Reflex
3 Mere Appearance in Ideology
4 The Societal Causes of This Mere Appearance

12 Societal Reality as Spiritual Nature
1 Consciousness and Reality
2 Social Reality
3 The Role of the Human Mind
4 Natural and Sensational Reality
5 The Expansion of the Concept of Nature
6 Spiritual Nature

13 The Forms of Causality
1 The Essentials of Causality
2 Causality and Functionality
3 Causality and Tendency
4 The Three Forms of Causality
5 Social Causality

14 The New Concept of Sociation
1 Sociation Is Not Socialization
2 The Objectivity of the Concept of Sociation
3 Sociation as a Concept of Reality
4 Sociation as an Epistemological Concept

15 The Point-of-View Held by Marx and Engels
1 Methodology and Science
2 The Active Nature of Humans
3 The Difference between History and Nature (between Humans and Animals)
4 Human Beings Make Their Own History
5 Engels’s Representation
6 Human Emancipation as the First Form of the Concept of Sociation
7 The Concept of Sociation as the Foundation of the Concept of Society
8 The Economic Development of the Concept of Society
9 The Concept of Society

Selective Bibliography
Index