Marx' Critique of Science and Positivism: the Methodological Foundations of Political Economy

234 Pages·1988·34.938 MB·English

by  McCarthy, George E

MARX' CRITIQUE OF SCIENCE AND POSITIVISM
SOVIETICA
PUBLICATIONS AND MONOGRAPHS
OF THE INSTITUTE OF EAST-EUROPEAN STUDIES AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF FRIBOURG / SWITZERLAND AND
THE CENTER FOR EAST EUROPE, RUSSIA AND ASIA
AT BOSTON COLLEGE AND THE SEMINAR
FOR POLITICAL THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
Founded by 1. M. BOCHENSKI (Fribourg)
Edited by T. J. BLAKELEY (Boston), GUIDO KUNG (Fribourg) and
NIKOLAUS LOBKOWICZ (Munich)
Editorial Board
Karl G. Ballestrem (Eichstiitt) Bernard Jeu (LiZle)
Helmut Dahm (Cologne) George L. Kline (Bryn Mawr)
Richard T. DeGeorge (Univ. of Kan-
sas) James J. O'Rourke (St. Anselm's)
Peter Ehlen (Munich) Friedrich Rapp (Dortmund)
Michael Gagern (Munich) Tom Rockmore (Duquesne)
Philip Grier (Dickinson Coil.) Andries Sarlemijn (Eindhoven)
Felix P. Ingold (ETH St. Gall) James Scanlan (Ohio State)
Edward M. Swiderski (Fribourg)
VOLUME 53
GEORGE E. McCARTHY
Kenyon College, Gambier
MARX' CRITIQUE
OF SCIENCE
AND POSITIVISM
The Methodological Foundations of
Political Economy
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DORDRECHT / BOSTON I LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
McCarthy. George E.
Marx' critique of SClence and positivism: the methodological
foundatlons of political economy! by George E. McCarthy.
p. cm. -- (Sovietica ; 53)
Inc 1u des index.
ISBN 9027727023
1. Marx. Karl. 1818-1883. 2. Phi losophy. German--18th century.
3. Philosophy. German--19th century. L Title. II. Series:
Sovietlca (Unlversite de Fribourg. Ost-Europa Institut) ; v. 53.
B3305.M74M392 1988
193--dc19 88-2036
CIP
ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7825-2 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2945-6
001: 10.1007/978-94-009-2945-6
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FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments Xl
Introduction 1
Part I: 18th- and 19th-Century German Philosophy:
Epistemology and Metaphysics
CHAPTER ONE Science and Critique: The Evolution
of the German Perspective from
Kant to Marx 20
I. Introduction
II. Immanuel Kant and the Critique of Pure
Reason
III. Hegel and the Radicalization of the
Critical Method
IV. Marx' Turn From Positivism to Science
as Critique in Political Economy
V. The Critical Method in German Idealism
and Political Economy
CHAPTER TWO Time and Critique: The Temporal
Dimensions of the Dialectical Method 44
I. Introduction
II. Logic, Ontology, and Time
III. Temporality and Science in Hegel's
Logic: Dialectics and the Concept
IV. Realization of the Concept and the
Concrete Totality
V. Temporality and History in Marx' Later
Political Economy
CHAPTER THREE Materialism and Critique: The
Schelling and Feuerbach Responses to Hegel 67
I. Introduction
II. Schelling'S Rejection of Hegel's Theory
of Objectivity and Identity
III. Feuerbach's Rejection of Hegel's
Synthesis of Consciousness and Reality
IV. The Empiricism of Sch~ling and Feuerbach
viii
and the Ambivalence Of Marx' New
Materialism
V. The Philosophical Foundations of
Marx'Materialism
Part II: Epistemology and Method in
Marx' Later Works
CHAPTER Rethinking Method: Reflective
F~UR
Reconstruction of History 98
I. Introduction
II. Epistemological Grounding of Political
Economy
III. The Hegelian Notion ofBegrifj and
Political Economy:
History and Logic
IV. The Dialectic and the Logic of Capital
V. Science, Political EConomy, and Ontology
VI. From Simple Commodity Production to
Capitalist Production
VII. Marx' Theory of Value and
Economic Crisis Theory
CHAPTER FIVE Against Epistemology and
Foundationalism: From the Theory of Political
Economy to Social Practice 135
I. Introduction
II. David Hume and the Crisis of
Modem Science
III. Hegel and Marx: From the Negation
of Science to the Negation
of Epistemology
IV. Marx' Theory of Truth
V. Marx' Dilemma of Objective Validity and
Truth as Social Praxis
VI. Science as Social Practice and the
Critique of Privileged Representations
VII. The Duhem-Quine Thesis and the Beginnings
of Scientific Conventionalism
VIII. Social Practice and the Post..;Empiricist
Philosophy of Science: Rorty
and Feyerabend
ix
Part III: Meta-Critique and Political Economy:
Marx' Legacy
CHAPTER SIX Epistemology and Political Economy:
From Philosophy to Social Theory 166
I. Introduction
II. Ideology, Consciousness, and the
Sociology of Knowledge
III. Historical Materialism as Social
Epistemology
IV. Marx, Habermas, and the Reflective
Reconstruction of the Species
V. Social Ethics and the Meta-Theory
of Political Economy
NOTES 188
BIBLIOGRAPHY 206
INDEX 219
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It would be extremely difficult to acknowledge everyone who has had a
strong and positive influence on my intellectual development, a product
of which is the following work. Despite the difficulty of mentioning
some at the exclusion of others, I feel obliged to thank some of my
former teachers: Professors William McCormick, Alfred DiLascia, and
William Moran of Manhattan College, Professors Arthur Vidich and
David Muchnick of the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social
Research, and Professor Trent Schroyer, formerly of the New School
for Social Research and now at Ramapo State CQllege.
I would also like to offer a special thanks to Professor Thomas
Blakeley of Boston College for his continuous observations, criticisms,
and encouragements over the years without which this work would not
have been possible. Professor Royal Rhodes of Kenyon College, a dear
friend and colleague, gave me invaluable assistance and support in the
c~ting of this work. I am grateful to Professor Nicolaus Lobkowicz
for his gracious invitation for me to spend my sabbatical year 1986-
1987 as a "Guest Professor" at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institut FUr
Politische Wissenschaft at the University of Munich. Financial aid was
provided for my sabbatical year by a Kenyon College Sabbatical Grant
and a research grant from the West German Deutscher Akademischer
Austauschdienst. For her time and effort in the typing of the drafts of
this manuscript I am indebted to the departmental secretary Ms. Sharon
Duchesne. Finally, for her support and love throughout the whole
process of completing this book and especially for those lonely times
when it appeared unlikely to be ever completed, I would like to thank
my wife Patricia.
Parts of Chapter One appeared previously as 'Development of the
Concept and Method of Critique in Kant, Hegel, and Marx', Studies in
Soviet Thought, 30, 1985 and parts of Chapter Two appeared as 'Tem
porality and Science in Hegel's Logic', in Studies in Soviet Thought,
16, 1976. For their use in this book permission has been given by D.
Reidel Publishing Company.
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