Karl Marx and the Actualization of Philosophy

A new reading of Marx's overall intellectual project in terms of his claim to bring about the 'actualization of philosophy'.

Christoph Schuringa (Author)

9781009304801, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 April 2025

205 pages
23.5 x 16.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.448 kg

It is indisputable that Marx began his intellectual trajectory as a philosopher, but it is often thought that he subsequently turned away from philosophy. In this book, Christoph Schuringa proposes a radically different reading of Marx's intellectual project and demonstrates that from his earliest writings his aim was the 'actualization' of philosophy. Marx, he argues, should be understood not as turning away from philosophy, but as seeking to make philosophy a practical force in the world. By analysing a series of texts from across Marx's output, Schuringa shows that Marx progressively overcame what he called 'self-sufficient philosophy', not in order to leave philosophy behind but to bring it into its own. This involves a major reinterpretation of Marx's relationship to his ancestors Aristotle, Kant and Hegel, and shows that philosophy, as it actualizes itself, far from being merely a body of philosophical doctrine, figures as an instrument of the revolution.

Introduction
1. Marx on the history of ancient Greek philosophy
2. Marx's critique of Hegel: politics
3. Marx's critique of Hegel: logic
4. Humanism and naturalism in the Paris Manuscripts
5. From mere philosophy to historical materialism
6. Capital: value, labour-power, exploitation, crisis
7. Capital: dialectic
8. Actualizing philosophy
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD]