In this lecture course, Reiner Schürmann reads Marx's work as a transcendental materialism. Arguing that what is most original in Marx is neither his political or sociological nor his economic thinking, but his philosophical axis, Schürmann shows that Marx conceives being as polyvalent praxis. With patient rigor, Schürmann delineates this notion of praxis from the interpretations proposed by Louis Althusser and the Frankfurt School, as he traces Marx's move beyond the dualism that has governed ontology since Descartes. Stepping out of this dualism, however, Marx does not espouse a monism either-be it an immobile one as Parmenides', or a dynamic one as Hegel's. On the problem of universals, Marx's transcendental materialism is nominalistic: being as action is irreducibly manifold.
Extending his highly original engagement with the history of philosophy, Schürmann in the course of these lectures draws out the philosophical axis in Marx's work, which determines and localizes his theories of history, of social relations and of economy. On this view, Marx's unique place in philosophy stems from the fact that the grounding of phenomena is seen by him not as a relation that produces cognition, as in Kant; nor as a relation of material sensitivity, as in Feuerbach; but the grounding occurs in labor, in praxis, in the satisfaction of needs. Whereas the Marxist readings of Marx conceive history, classes and social relations as primary realities, Schürmann brings out a radically immanent understanding of praxis in Marx that introduces multiplicity into being.
Following Schürmann's own suggestion, this edition is complemented by a reprinting of his Anti-Humanism essay, in which he reads Marx alongside Nietzsche and Heidegger as spelling out the dissociation of being and action. This rupture puts an end to the epochal economy of presence and returns principles to their own precariousness. As a whole, this volume brings out one of the less appreciated facets of Schürmann's work and offers an interpretation of Marx that resonates with the readings of Jacques Derrida, Michel Henry, Antonio Negri and François Laruelle.
Series
Language
Place of publication
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 21 cm
Width: 13.5 cm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
ISBN-13
978-3-0358-0201-6 (9783035802016)
Schweitzer Classification
Author
Reiner Schürmann wurde 1941 in Amsterdam geboren und verbrachte seine Kindheit und Jugend in Krefeld. Ab 1960 studierte er Philosophie in München, unterbrochen durch einen Aufenthalt in einem israelischen Kibbuz. 1961 trat er als Novize bei den Dominikanern in Frankreich ein und studierte von 1962-69 Theologie im Saulchoir, Essonne, bei Paris, unterbrochen durch einen Studienaufenthalt in Freiburg i. Br. bei Heidegger. 1970 wurde er zum Dominikanerpriester ordiniert, verließ den Orden 1975 jedoch wieder. Seit den frühen siebziger Jahren lebte Schürmann in den USA und wurde 1975 von Hannah Arendt und Hans Jonas an die New School for Social Research in New York berufen. 1993 starb Reiner Schürmann an Aids. Sein umfangreiches philosophisches Werk verfasste Schürmann in französischer Sprache.
Editor
Nicolas Schneider Nicolas Schneider arbeitet zur Philosophie nach Kant, Kritischen Theorie und Phänomenologie. Im Anschluss an seine Promotion in Philosophie an der Kingston University London, UK, lehrte er an der Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Derzeit ist er wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Universität Lüneburg.
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Syllabus
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11
List of Abbreviations
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22
Lecture 1: Introduction: Marx as Transcendental Philosopher
(Reiner Schürmann)
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31
Lecture 2: A Double Problematic in the Early Writings
(Reiner Schürmann)
33
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39
Lecture 3: The Ambiguity of Marx's 'Humanism'
(Reiner Schürmann)
41
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49
Lecture 4: The Reversal of Problematics in 1845
(Reiner Schürmann)
51
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59
Lecture 5: Practice as Motive Subjectivity of the Concrete Individual
(Reiner Schürmann)
61
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69
Lecture 6: Reality as the Production of Material Life
(Reiner Schürmann)
71
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81
Lecture 7: The Representational Status of Regional Theories
(Reiner Schürmann)
83
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90
Lecture 8: The Categorial and the Creedal Concepts of Ideology
(Reiner Schürmann)
91
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95
Lecture 9: The Heterogeneity between Being and Consciousness
(Reiner Schürmann)
97
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114
Conclusion: Anti-Humanism
(Reiner Schürmann)
115
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129
Notes
(Reiner Schürmann)
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147
Afterword: On Transcendental Materialism
(Nicolas Schneider)
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Plan of the Course
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157
Tentative Chronology of Reiner Schürmann's Courses at the New School for Social Research
158
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159
Lecture Notes of Reiner Schürmann at the NSSR-Pierre Adler's Inventory (1994)
160
Editorial Statement
