Marx on Capitalism. The Interaction-Recognition-Antinomy Thesis

James Furner

Author: James Furner
In Marx on Capitalism, James Furner offers a new answer to the fundamental question of Marxism: can a thesis connecting capital, the state and classes with the desirability of socialism be developed from an analysis of the commodity? The Interaction-Recognition-Antinomy Thesis is anchored in a systematic retranslation of Marx’s writings. It provides an antinomy-based strategy for grounding the value of social humanity in working-class agency, facilitates a dialectical derivation of political representation, and condemns capitalism as unjust without appeal to rights.

Biographical Note

James Furner, Ph.D., is the author of several articles on Marx and Kant.

Readership

Anyone interested in Marx and Marxism, critical theory, post-Kantian political philosophy, phenomenological sociology, and theories of capitalism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements References and Abbreviations
The Interaction-Recognition-Antinomy Thesis  1 The Interaction Component  2 The Recognition Component  3 The First Antinomy  4 The Second Antinomy  5 An Outline of the Argument  Appendix: A Note on Translation
Analytical Marxism  1 The Project of Analytical Marxism  2 Dialectical Contradiction  3 Intrastructuration  4 Conclusion
Commodity Form Philosophy  1 Use-Value  2 Value  3 Commodities and Goods  4 Use-Values, Goods and Duties to the Whole  5 The Commodity, Dialectical Contradiction and Real Abstraction  6 Antinomies of the Commodity Form
Action  1 Capital’s Description of Human Labour  2 In-Order-To Motives and Because Motives  3 Orientation to an In-Order-To Motive  4 The Form of an In-Order-To Motive  5 Action and Abstraction
Social Relations  1 Marx’s General Remarks on Social Relations  2 Schütz’s Typology of Social Action  3 Interaction as a Relation of Mutual Affecting  4 The Problem of Normativity  5 An Interactional Conception of a Social Relation of Production  6 Some Objections  7 The Objection from Structure  8 The Objection from Consciousness  9 The Problem of Legality
System and Bearer  1 A Generalised Interactions Conception of Social Structure  2 Sociological Thought and the Concept of Social Role  3 The Features of a System  4 The Capitalist Structure as a System  5 The Capitalist Structure as a System (Continued)  6 Actors as Bearers
Purchase and Sale  1 Exchange  2 Independent Exchange of Products  3 Possession: Savigny and Marx  4 Commodities and Money
Exploitation  1 The Quantitative Marxist View of Exploitation  2 A Non-Normative Concept of Exploitation  3 Bazard, Marx and the Five Conditions for Exploitation  4 The Benefit Condition  5 The Harm Condition  6 The Causal Condition  7 The Consequence Condition  8 The Means-to-Ends Condition  9 The System Universalisability Conception of Exploitation  10 Capitalist Labour-Exploitation  11 The Exploitation and Need Problem  12 The Agency Problem  13 The Capitalism, Rights and Injustice Problem  14 Summary
Recognition and Self-Ownership  1 A Pragmatic Conception of Recognition  2 Possession, Private Property Ownership and Recognition  3 As-If Mutual Recognition in Purchase and Sale  4 Marx’s Concept of a Person  5 Security and Self-Ownership
10 Recognition and Bureaucratic Domination  1 Marx’s General Conception of Domination  2 Domination and the Will  3 Domination and Alien Will  4 Domination and Recognition  5 Marx’s Conception of Domination Restated  6 Formal and Real Subsumption  7 Domination and Formal Subsumption  8 Domination and Real Subsumption  9 The Recognition Condition and Occupational Identity  10 Summary
11 Antinomy and State Form  1 A Derivation of the Juridical Logic of Freedom of Choice  2 Individual Human Rights  3 The System of Capitalist Production and Popular Sovereignty  4 The Antinomy of Natural Rights and Popular Authorisation  5 Parliamentary Representation  6 The Separation of Powers
12 The Rights-Antinomy and Class Struggle  1 An Antagonistic Interdependency Conception of Classes  2 Class Antagonism at the Macro-Level  3 The Self-Consciousness of the Commodity  4 Capital’s Antinomy Passage: A Reconstruction  5 The Rights-Antinomy and the Capitalist Class Interest Claim  6 Interest Privilege and Possible Practical Awareness  7 The Rights-Antinomy, Recognition and Union Organisation  8 Working-Class Movements  9 A Resolution of Both Antinomies
Conclusion  1 Exploitation and Injustice  2 The Disappearance of Analytical Marxism  3 The State of Capitalist Society  4 Revolutionary Awareness
Bibliography Index