The Platypus Affiliated Society

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

• Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)

• Cutrone, “Class consciousness (from a Marxist persective) today”

+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)

Week 1.i. Radical bourgeois philosophy V. Kant and Constant: Bourgeois society | Room KSW2.02 | Oct. 8, 2019

• Immanuel Kant, "Idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view" and "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)

• Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)

+ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the origin of inequality (1754)

+ Rousseau, selection from On the social contract (1762)

Week 1.ii. Radical bourgeois philosophy VI. Hegel: Freedom in history | Room KSW2.02 | Oct. 15, 2019

• G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128] [Audiobook]

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

Week 2. What is the Left? II. Utopia and critique | Room KSW2.02 | Oct. 22, 2019

• Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926–31)

• Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)

• Leszek Kolakowski, “The concept of the Left” (1968)

• Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839–41), pp. 9–11

• Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12–15

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

Week 3. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Room KSW2.02 | Oct. 29, 2019

• Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70–101

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

• Marx and Friedrich Engels, selections from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), pp. 469-500

• Marx, Address to the Central Committee of the Communist League (1850), pp. 501–511

LSE Reading Week Break | Nov. 4 - 8, 2019

Week 4. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Room KSW2.02 | Nov. 12, 2019

• Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847) and Class struggle and mode of production (letter to Weydemeyer, 1852), pp. 218-220

• Engels, The tactics of social democracy (Engels's 1895 introduction to Marx, The Class Struggles in France), pp. 556–573

• Marx, selections from The Class Struggles in France 1848–50 (1850), pp. 586–593

• Marx, selections from The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), pp. 594–617

Week 5. What is Marxism? III. Bonapartism | Room KSW2.02 | Nov. 19, 2019

+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)

• Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512–519

• Marx, selections from The Civil War in France (1871, including Engels's 1891 Introduction), pp. 618–652

+ Korsch, Introduction to Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1922)

• Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, pp. 525–541

• Marx, Programme of the Parti Ouvrier (1880)

Week 6. What is Marxism? IV. Critique of political economy | Room KSW2.02 | Nov. 26, 2019

The fetish character of the commodity is not a fact of consciousness; rather it is dialectical, in the eminent sense that it produces consciousness. . . . [P]erfection of the commodity character in a Hegelian self-consciousness inaugurates the explosion of its phantasmagoria.
— Theodor W. Adorno, letter to Walter Benjamin, August 2, 1935

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

• Marx, selections from the Grundrisse (1857–61), pp. 222–226, 236–244, 247–250, 276–293 ME Reader pp. 276-281

• Marx, Capital Vol. I, Ch. 1 Sec. 4 "The fetishism of commodities" (1867), pp. 319–329

Week 7. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Room KSW2.02 Dec. 3, 2019

• Georg Lukács, “The phenomenon of reification” (Part I of “Reification and the consciousness of the proletariat,” History and Class Consciousness, 1923)

+ Reification chart of terms

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

Week 8. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Room KSW2.02 | Dec. 10, 2019

• Lukács, “Class Consciousness” (1920), Original Preface (1922), “What is Orthodox Marxism?” (1919), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Marx, Preface to the First German Edition and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Capital (1867), pp. 294–298, 299–302

Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Room KSW2.02 | Dec. 17, 2019

• Korsch, “Marxism and philosophy” (1923)

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839–41), pp. 9–11

+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12–15

+ Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), pp. 143–145

Winter break readings

+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)

+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918–19 (1968)

+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6

+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)

+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)

Winter–Spring 2020

II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

Philadelphia primary reading group Fall – Winter 2019

Wednesdays
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Van Pelt Library
Class of '68 Seminar Room
(map)

New attendants encouraged.

Direct questions to bkosko@sass.upenn.edu

I. What is the Left? – What is Marxism?

• required / + recommended reading

Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)

Week F. Radical bourgeois philosophy I. Rousseau: Crossroads of society | Sep. 4, 2019

Whoever dares undertake to establish a people’s institutions must feel himself capable of changing, as it were, human nature, of transforming each individual, who by himself is a complete and solitary whole, into a part of a larger whole, from which, in a sense, the individual receives his life and his being, of substituting a limited and mental existence for the physical and independent existence. He has to take from man his own powers, and give him in exchange alien powers which he cannot employ without the help of other men.
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (1762)

• Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926–31)

+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)

+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts): [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

• Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762)

Week G. Radical bourgeois philosophy II. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 1) | Sep. 11, 2019

• Adam Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations

Volume I [PDF]
Introduction and Plan of the Work
Book I: Of the Causes of Improvement…
I.1. Of the Division of Labor
I.2. Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
I.3. That the Division of Labour is Limited by the Extent of the Market
I.4. Of the Origin and Use of Money
I.6. Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities
I.7. Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities
I.8. Of the Wages of Labour
I.9. Of the Profits of Stock
Book III: Of the different Progress of Opulence in different Nations
III.1. Of the Natural Progress of Opulence
III.2. Of the Discouragement of Agriculture in the Ancient State of Europe after the Fall of the Roman Empire
III.3. Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, after the Fall of the Roman Empire
III.4. How the Commerce of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country

Week H. Radical bourgeois philosophy III. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 2) | Sep. 18, 2019

• Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations

Volume II [PDF]
IV.7. Of Colonies
Book V: Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth
V.1. Of the Expences of the Sovereign or Commonwealth

Week I. Radical bourgeois philosophy IV. What is the Third Estate? | Sep. 25, 2019

• Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, What is the Third Estate? (1789)

+ Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (1732)

Week J. Radical bourgeois philosophy V. Kant and Constant: Bourgeois society | Oct. 2, 2019

• Immanuel Kant, "Idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view" and "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

• Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)

+ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the origin of inequality (1754)

+ Rousseau, selection from On the social contract (1762)

Week K. Radical bourgeois philosophy VI. Hegel: Freedom in history | Oct. 9, 2019

• G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128] [Audiobook]

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

Week 1. What is the Left? I. Capital in history | Oct. 16, 2019

Whoever dares undertake to establish a people’s institutions must feel himself capable of changing, as it were, human nature, of transforming each individual, who by himself is a complete and solitary whole, into a part of a larger whole, from which, in a sense, the individual receives his life and his being, of substituting a limited and mental existence for the physical and independent existence. He has to take from man his own powers, and give him in exchange alien powers which he cannot employ without the help of other men.
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (1762)

• Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926–31)

+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)

+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

• Chris Cutrone, "Capital in history" (2008)

+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms

+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation

• Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)

• Cutrone, “Class consciousness (from a Marxist persective) today”

+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)

Week 2. What is the Left? II. Utopia and critique | Oct. 23, 2019

• Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926–31)

• Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)

• Leszek Kolakowski, “The concept of the Left” (1968)

• Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839–41), pp. 9–11

• Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12–15

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

Week 3. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Oct. 30, 2019

• Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70–101

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

• Marx and Friedrich Engels, selections from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), pp. 469-500

• Marx, Address to the Central Committee of the Communist League (1850), pp. 501–511

Week 4. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 6, 2019

• Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847) and Class struggle and mode of production (letter to Weydemeyer, 1852), pp. 218-220

• Engels, The tactics of social democracy (Engels's 1895 introduction to Marx, The Class Struggles in France), pp. 556–573

• Marx, selections from The Class Struggles in France 1848–50 (1850), pp. 586–593

• Marx, selections from The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), pp. 594–617

Week 5. What is Marxism? III. Bonapartism | Nov. 13, 2019

+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)

• Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512–519

• Marx, selections from The Civil War in France (1871, including Engels's 1891 Introduction), pp. 618–652

+ Korsch, Introduction to Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1922)

• Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, pp. 525–541

• Marx, Programme of the Parti Ouvrier (1880)

Week 6. What is Marxism? IV. Critique of political economy | Nov. 20, 2019

The fetish character of the commodity is not a fact of consciousness; rather it is dialectical, in the eminent sense that it produces consciousness. . . . [P]erfection of the commodity character in a Hegelian self-consciousness inaugurates the explosion of its phantasmagoria.
— Theodor W. Adorno, letter to Walter Benjamin, August 2, 1935

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

• Marx, selections from the Grundrisse (1857–61), pp. 222–226, 236–244, 247–250, 276–293 ME Reader pp. 276-281

• Marx, Capital Vol. I, Ch. 1 Sec. 4 "The fetishism of commodities" (1867), pp. 319–329

Week 7. 2019 U.S. Thanksgiving break | Nov. 27, 2019

• Georg Lukács, “The phenomenon of reification” (Part I of “Reification and the consciousness of the proletariat,” History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

Winter break readings

+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)

+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918–19 (1968)

+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6

+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)

+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)

Week 8. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Dec. 4, 2019

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

Week 9. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Dec. 11, 2019

Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Dec. 18, 2019

• Korsch, “Marxism and philosophy” (1923)

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839–41), pp. 9–11

+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12–15

+ Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), pp. 143–145

Winter break readings

+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)

+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918–19 (1968)

+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6

+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)

+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)

Winter–Spring 2020

II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism

+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ video of communist University 2011 London presentation
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms

WiSe-Lesekreis 19/20: Was ist die “Linke”? – Was ist “Marxismus”?

Die historischen Wurzeln der Linken und des Marxismus liegen in den bürgerlichen Revolutionen des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts und deren Krise im 19. Jahrhundert. Der Lesekreis versucht diesen geschichtlichen Hintergrund durch die Lektüre von Texten von Marx und der radikalen bürgerlichen Philosophie der Aufklärung herauszuarbeiten. Durch Texte von Autoren wie Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Georg Lukács, Karl Korsch und Leszek Kołakowski versuchen wir, das Problem des politischen Bewusstseins der Linken im 20. Jahrhundert, das bis heute prägend bleibt, zu beleuchten.

Die Texte werden zu Hause gelesen und beim Lesekreis besprochen. Kein Vorwissen ist nötig und Einstieg jederzeit möglich. Wir freuen uns über neue Gesichter.

• vorausgesetzte Texte

+ zusätzliche Texte

Zeit: Ab 23. Oktober jeden Mittwoch 18-21 Uhr
Ort: Frankfurt, Campus Westend, IG-Farbengebäude, IG 2.501

1. Woche | Einführung: Das Kapital in der Geschichte | 23.10.2019

• Max Horkheimer: “Der kleine Mann und die Philosophie der Freiheit”, in: Dämmerung (1926-31), S.360
• epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson), Karl Marx (on “becoming” – aus: Grundrisse 1857-58) and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche)

+ Rainer Maria Rilke: “Archaischer Torso Apollos” (1908)
+ Robert Pippin “On Critical Theory” (2004)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

• Chris Cutrone: “Das Kapital in der Geschichte” (2008)

• Cutrone: “The Marxist hypothesis” (2010)'
• Cutrone: “Klassenbewusstsein (aus einer marxistischen Perspektive) heute” (2012)

+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class"[HTML] (2007)

2. Woche | Was ist die Linke? – Utopie und Kritik | 30.10.2019

Max Horkheimer, Auszüge aus: Dämmerung (1926–31), S. 360
• „Umschlag von Gedanken“, S. 340-341
• „Skepsis und Moral“, S. 341-344
• „Diskussion über die Revolution“, S.346-349
• „Der kleine Mann und die Philosophie der Freiheit“, S.360-363
• „Indikation“, S.389
• „Sozialismus und Ressentiment“, S.391-392
• „Der Fortschritt“, S.418-419
• „Der Idealismus des Revolutionärs“, S.419-420

• Theodor W. Adorno: „Ausschweifung” (1944–47) (GS4:297-300, im Anhang aus: Minima Moralia)
• Leszek Kolakowski: „Der Sinn des Begriffes ‘Linke’” (1968)
• Karl Marx, Auszüge aus seiner Doktordissertation (1839–41)
• Marx, Brief an Arnold Ruge (September 1843)

+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

3. Woche | I. Was ist Marxismus? – Sozialismus | 06.11.2019

Karl Marx, Auszüge aus: Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte (1844)
• „Die entfremdete Arbeit“
• „Privateigentum und Kommunismus“
• „Bedürfnis, Produktion und Arbeitsteilung“ (exklusiv: „Die Grundrente“)

+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms

• Marx und Friedrich Engels: „Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei“ (1848) [exklusiv: “III. Sozialistische und kommunistische Literatur”]
• Karl Marx: "Strikes und Arbeiterkoalitionen", aus: Das Elend der Philosophie (1847) [§5., im zweiten Kapitel]

4. Woche | II. Was ist Marxismus? – Die Revolution von 1848 | 13.11.2019

• Marx: „Ansprache der Zentralbehörde an den Bund vom März“ (1850)
• Marx, Brief an Joseph Weydemeyer (5.März 1852) [MEW 28, S.503-509]
• Engels‘ Einleitung zu Karl Marx‘: Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850 (1895)
• Marx, “Teil I: Die Juniniederlage 1848”, aus: Die Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850 (1850)
• Marx, Auszüge aus: Der achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Napoleon (1852) [Teil I und VII]

5. Woche | III. Was ist Marxismus? – Bonapartismus | 20.11.2019

+ Karl Korsch: „Der Marxismus der Ersten Internationale“ (1924)

• Karl Marx: „Inauguraladresse der Internationalen Arbeiter-Assoziation“ (1864)
• Marx, Auszüge aus: Der Bürgerkrieg in Frankreich (1871) [Teil III und IV; inklusive Engels’ Einleitung von 1891]

+ Korsch: „Einleitung zu Marx’ Kritik des Gothaer Programms“ (1922)

• Marx: „Kritik des Gothaer Programms“ (1875)
• Marx‘ Einleitung zum Programm der französischen Arbeiterpartei (1880) [MEW 19: Die Einleitung findet ihr auf S.238 und das Programm selbst in den Anmerkungen (Nr. 151), auf den Seiten 570-71.]

6. Woche | IV. Was ist Marxismus? – Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie | 27.11.2019

„Der Fetischcharakter der Ware ist keine Tatsache des Bewußtseins sondern dialektisch in dem emminenten Sinne, daß er Bewußtsein produziert. […] [D]ie Vollendung des Warencharakters in einem Hegelschen Selbstbewußtsein die Sprengung der Phantasmagorie inauguriert.“
– Theodor W. Adorno, in einem Brief an Walter Benjamin, 2.-4. August 1935

+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms

• Karl Marx, Auszüge aus: Grundrisse (1857-1861)
• Marx: "Der Fetischcharakter der Ware und sein Geheimnis", aus: Das Kapital Bd. I (1867) [MEW 23, S.85-98; Kapiel 1, Teil 4]

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

7. Woche | V. Was ist Marxismus? – Verdinglichung | 04.12.2019

• Georg Lukács: "Das Phänomen der Verdinglichung" (I. Abschnitt des Kapitels: “Die Verdinglichung und das Bewusstsein des Proletariats“), in: Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein (1923)

+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms

8. Woche | VI. Was ist Marxismus? – Klassenbewusstsein | 11.12.2019

• Lukács: “Vorwort” von 1922, „Was ist orthodoxer Marxismus?” (1919) und „Klassenbewusstsein” (1920), in: Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein (1923)

+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Karl Marx, “Vorwort” zur ersten Auflage des Kapital Bd. I (1867) und “Nachwort” zur zweiten Auflage (1873)

9. Woche | VII. Was ist Marxismus? – Das Ende der Philosophie | 18.12.2019

• Karl Korsch: „Marxismus und Philosophie” (1923), S.84-160

+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Karl Marx, Auszüge aus seiner Doktordissertation (1839–41)
+ Marx, Brief an Arnold Ruge (September 1843)
+ Marx „Thesen über Feuerbach“ (1845)

Hintergrundlektüre für die Weihnachtspause (23.12.-11.01.2020)

+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z: Lenin für Anfänger (1977)
+ Sebastian Haffner: „Die deutsche Revolution 1918/19“ (1968) [ PDF]
+ Edmund Wilson: „To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History“ (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans: „Trotzki für Anfänger“ (1980)
+ James Joll: „The Second International 1889–1914“ (1966)

10. Woche | I. Bürgerlich-Radikale Philosophie: Rousseau | 15.01.2020

"Wer den Mut besitzt, einem Volke Einrichtungen zu geben, muß sich imstande fühlen, gleichsam die menschliche Natur umzuwandeln, jedes Individuum, das für sich ein vollendetes und einzeln bestehendes Ganze ist, zu einem Teile eines größeren Ganzen umzuschaffen, aus dem dieses Individuum gewissermaßen erst Leben und Wesen erhält; die Beschaffenheit des Menschen zu seiner eigenen Kräftigung zu verändern und an die Stelle des leiblichen und unabhängigen Daseins, das wir alle von der Natur empfangen haben, ein nur teilweises und geistiges Dasein zu setzen. Kurz, er muß dem Menschen die ihm eigentümlichen Kräfte nehmen, um ihn mit anderen auszustatten, die seiner Natur fremd sind und die er ohne den Beistand anderer nicht zu benutzen versteht."
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Der Gesellschaftsvertrag (1762)

+ Max Horkheimer: “Der kleine Mann und die Philosophie der Freiheit”, in: Dämmerung (1926–31), S.360
+ epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson), Karl Marx (on “becoming” – aus: Grundrisse 1857-58) and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke: “Archaischer Torso Apollos” (1908)
+ Robert Pippin “On Critical Theory” (2004)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: „Abhandlung über den Ursprung und die Grundlagen der Ungleichheit unter den Menschen“ (1754)
• Rousseau, Auszüge aus: „Der Gesellschaftsvertrag“ (1762)

11. Woche | II. Bürgerlich-Radikale Philosophie: Adam Smith (Teil 1) | 22.01.2020

Adam Smith, Auszüge aus: Der Wohlstand der Nationen (1776)

• Einleitung und Plan des Werkes

Buch I: Die Ursachen der Produktivitätssteigerung der Arbeit und die Ordnung der natürlichen Verteilung des Arbeitsertrages auf die einzelnen Bevölkerungsschichten

• 1. Die Arbeitsteilung
• 2. Das Prinzip, welches zur Arbeitsteilung führt
• 3. Die Arbeitsteilung hängt von der Ausdehnung des Marktes ab
• 4. Ursprung und Gebrauch des Geldes
• 5. Das Prinzip, welches zur Arbeitsteilung führt.
• 6. Die Bestandteile des Warenpreises
• 7. Der natürliche und der Marktpreis der Waren
• 8. Der Arbeitslohn
• 9. Die Kapitalprofite

Buch III: Die unterschiedliche Entwicklung verschiedener Völker zum Wohlstand

• 1. Das natürliche Fortschreiten zum Reichtum
• 2. Entmutigung des Ackerbaues in dem früheren Zustande Europas nach dem Falle des römischen Reiches
• 3. Ursprung und Wachstum der großen und kleinen Städte nach dem Falle des römischen Reiches
• 4. Wie der Handel der Städte zur Hebung des flachen Landes beitrug

12. Woche | III. Bürgerlich-Radikale Philosophie: Adam Smith (Teil 2) | 29.01.2020

Adam Smith, Auszüge aus: Der Wohlstand der Nationen (1776)

Buch IV: Systeme der politischen Ökonomie
• 7. Kolonien

Buch V: Die Finanzen des Herrschers oder des Gemeinwesens
• 1. Die Ausgaben des Herrschers oder des Gemeinwesens

13. Woche | IV. Bürgerlich-Radikale Philosophie: Was ist der dritte Stand? | 05.02.2020

• Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès: „Was ist der dritte Stand?“ (1789)

+ Bernard Mandeville: "Die Bienenfabel" (1732) [engl.]

14. Woche | V. Bürgerlich-Radikale Philosophie: Kant und Constant – Bürgerliche Gesellschaft | 12.02.2020

• Immanuel Kant: „Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht” und „Was ist Aufklärung?” (1784)

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

• Benjamin Constant: „Von der Freiheit des Altertums, verglichen mit der Freiheit der Gegenwart” (1819)

+ Jean-Jacques Rousseau: „Abhandlung über den Ursprung und die Grundlagen der Ungleichheit unter den Menschen“ (1754)
+ Rousseau, Auszüge aus: „Der Gesellschaftsvertrag“ (1762)

15. Woche | VI. Bürgerlich-Radikale Philosophie: Hegel – Freiheit in der Geschichte | 19.02.2020

W.F. Hegel, Einleitung aus: Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte (1831)

+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms

Empfohlene Hintergrundlektüre für die zweite Hälfte (SoSe ‘20) des Lesekreis’ “Was ist revolutionärer Marxismus?”

+ Leszek Kolakowski: „Der Sinn des Begriffes ‘Linke’” (1968)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z: “Lenin für Anfänger” (1977)
+ Sebastian Haffner: “Die deutsche Revolution 1918/19” (1968) [engl. PDF]
+ Edmund Wilson: „To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History“ (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans: „Trotzki für Anfänger“ (1980)
+ James Joll: „The Second International 1889–1914“ (1966)

Interview with David McLellan

On 2 September 2019, Stanley Sharpey and Efraim Carlebach interviewed David McLellan in Canterbury for The Platypus Review. David McLellan (born 1940) is an English scholar of Karl Marx and Marxism. McLellan is currently visiting Professor of Political Theory at Goldsmiths' College, University of London.

Hong Kong’s dialectic between spontaneity and organization

Kai Yui Samuel Chan

SHOULD SOCIAL MOVEMENTS BE ORGANIZED in a horizontal, spontaneous, and decentralized manner so that every member can equally participate? Or should movements be structured hierarchically with clear leadership so that they can act decisively in response to changing circumstances?