Ideology and Praxis: A Critical Analysis of the Marx-Hegel Relationship in Connection with Antagonistic Conceptions of Ideology in Marxism
Loading...
Authors
Emho, Austin
Date
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Marxism , Objective Idealism , Sociology , Hegelian Philosophy , German Idealism , Georg Lukács , Karl Marx , Friedrich Hegel , Friedrich Engels , Vladimir Lenin , Karl Kautsky , Orthodox Marxism , Hegelian Marxism , Ideology , Praxis , Consciousness , Phenomenology , Joseph Stalin , Marxism-Leninism , Dialectical Materialism , Marx-Hegel relationship , Dialectics
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study analyzes differing conceptions of ideology (i.e. the subject of ideas) attached to Marx’s materialist conception of history, across various Marxist streams in relation to the theorization of political praxis. The analysis centers on the antagonistic relationship between humanist and deterministic conceptions of ideology and explores how particular interpretations of the role of ideas in history came to dominate Marxism. Through critical analysis of Marx’s internal development, a direct connection is made between understandings of Marx’s latent Hegelian influences and various conceptions of ideology which can be explained by the degree to which later Marxists embraced or rejected key elements of Hegel’s philosophy of Objective Idealism: i.e., his dialectical form and/or phenomenological content. After having elaborated on the nature of the Marx-Hegel relationship through this lens, four critical interpretations of ideology (and its relation to praxis) are examined and compared/contrasted with Marx’s dual-inversion of Hegel’s form and content: (1) the Orthodox Marxism of the Second International and its theoretical errors which descend from Engels’s framing of the Marx-Hegel relationship, (2) Lenin’s decisive rediscovery of Hegel, (3) Stalin’s Diamat, imposed on the Third International, and (4) Lukács’s philosophical elaboration of Lenin’s thought. The analysis shows that Lenin’s and Lukács’s interpretation of the Marx-Hegel relationship accurately defines dialectical form from the standpoint of totality and therefore embraces the phenomenological content of Hegel’s Objective Idealism through a more nuanced conception of ideology as both a product of the material world and hu-man subjectivity. Antagonistically, Engels, the Orthodox Marxists, and later Marxist-Leninists, placed a singular emphasis on Hegel’s form which produced an inflexible, deterministic account of social development in which ideas (and therefore consciousness) are the one-sided expression of the objective laws of matter. The former models how contemporary sociology ought to narrow the gap between social theory and human material existence by taking a praxis-oriented approach to social issues that acknowledges the unique creative faculties of consciousness which allow humans to play an active role in their own social development.
Description
Citation
Publisher
License
Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States