Leo Kofler’s Philosophy of Praxis: Western Marxism and Socialist Humanism. With Six Essays by Leo Kofler Published in English for the First Time

Christoph Jünke

Translator: Nathaniel Thomas

The German-Austrian social theorist and philosopher Leo Kofler (1907–1995) represents what Oskar Negt once called ‘unmutilated, living Marxism’. Throughout his life he dealt with issues of history and modernity, Marxist philosophy and the critique of ideology, philosophical anthropology and aesthetics. In this volume, author and Kofler biographer Christoph Jünke elucidates the contours of his philosophy of praxis, traces an arc from the socialist classics to postmodernism, and outlines the socialist humanist thinker’s enduring relevance. The book also includes six essays by Leo Kofler published in English for the first time.

The main work was first published in German as Leo Koflers Philosophie der Praxis: Eine Einführung in sein Denken by Laika Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-944233-33-8. Copyright by Laika Verlag.

Biographical Note

Christoph Jünke, PhD, studied history and social science at the universities of Cologne and Bochum, taught history at the FernUniversität in Hagen, and now works as an independent scholar. He is chair of the Leo-Kofler-Gesellschaft and author of numerous books and articles on socialism, Stalinism, the New Left, and German history, including Leo Kofler: Leben und Werk (1907–1995) (VSA, 2007).

Readership

The volume will be of interest to students and scholars of Marxist and critical theory, European left-wing and workers’ movements, modern European history, and German and Jewish Studies.

Table of Contents

Preface to the English Edition
List of Illustrations

A Border Crosser of the Twentieth Century

From Classical Socialism to the Critique of Neoliberal Globalisation: Leo Kofler’s Marxism as Theory Intended for Practice

Kofler’s Critique of Stalinism

Socialist Humanism, Human Nature and Marxist Anthropology

The Debate over a Marxist Aesthetics: Going beyond Adorno and Lukács with Kofler and Lefebvre

Pseudo-Nature and Pseudo-Critique: Krahl, Kofler, and the Critique of the Frankfurt School with the Intention of Practice

Timetable of the Life and Work of Leo Kofler
Illustrations

Appendix: Six Essays by Kofler

On Freedom [1951]
Liberalism and Democracy [1959/1972]
The Progressive Elite [1959]
The Concept of Society in Historical Materialism [1956]
The Three Main Stages of Dialectical Social Philosophy [1966]
The Anthropology of Consciousness in the Materialism of Karl Marx [1983]
Bibliography
Index