When? Thursdays 7.30 pm
Where? Laidak, Boddinstraße 42, Berlin - Neukölln
Week F. Radical bourgeois philosophy I. Rousseau: Crossroads of society | Sep. 8, 2022
To be radical is to go to the root of the matter. For man, however, the root is man himself.
— Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1843)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)
• epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857–58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts): [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
• Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762) [on freedom and alienation]
Week G. Radical bourgeois philosophy II. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 1) | Sep. 15, 2022
• 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.5 Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities
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. 22, 2022
• Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations
Volume II [PDF]
IV.7, Of Colonies
V.1. Of the Expences of the Sovereign or Commonwealth Article 2d and 3d and Part IV
Week I. Radical bourgeois philosophy IV. What is the Third Estate? | Sep. 29, 2022
• Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, What is the Third Estate? (1789) [full text]
+ Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (1732)
Week J. Radical bourgeois philosophy V. Kant and Constant: Bourgeois society | Oct. 6, 2022
• 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
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] charts 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. 13, 2022
"When we look at this drama of human passions, and observe the consequences of their violence and of the unreason that is linked not only to them but also (and especially) to good intentions and rightful aims; when we see arising from them all the evil, the wickedness, the decline of the most flourishing nations mankind has produced, we can only be filled with grief for all that has come to nothing. And since this decline and fall is not merely the work of nature but of the will of men, we might well end with moral outrage over such a drama, and with a revolt of our good spirit (if there is a spirit of goodness in us). Without rhetorical exaggeration, we could paint the most fearful picture of the misfortunes suffered by the noblest of nations and states as well as by private virtues — and with that picture we could arouse feelings of the deepest and most helpless sadness, not to be outweighed by any consoling outcome. We can strengthen ourselves against this, or escape it, only by thinking that, well, so it was at one time; it is fate; there is nothing to be done about it now. And finally — in order to cast off the tediousness that this reflection of sadness could produce in us and to return to involvement in our own life, to the present of our own aims and interests — we return to the selfishness of standing on a quiet shore where we can be secure in enjoying the distant sight of confusion and wreckage… But as we contemplate history as this slaughter-bench, upon which the happiness of nations, the wisdom of states, and the virtues of individuals were sacrificed, the question necessarily comes to mind: What was the ultimate goal for which these monstrous sacrifices were made?… World history is the progress in the consciousness of freedom — a progress that we must come to know in its necessity… The Orientals knew only that one person is free; the Greeks and Romans that some are free; while we [moderns] know that all humans are implicitly free, qua human… The final goal of the world, we said, is Spirit’s consciousness of its freedom, and hence also the actualization of that very freedom… It is this final goal — freedom — toward which all the world’s history has been working. It is this goal to which all the sacrifices have been brought upon the broad altar of the earth in the long flow of time."
— Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History
• 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. 20, 2022
• Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926–31)
• epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857–58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ 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
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
• Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)
• Cutrone, “Class consciousness (from a Marxist perspective) today” (2012)
+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
Week 2. What is the Left? II. Utopia and critique | Oct. 27, 2022
• Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926–31)
• Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)
• Leszek Kolakowski, “The concept of the Left” (1958)
• Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
• 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
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 3. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Nov. 3, 2022
• Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70–101
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
• Marx and Friedrich Engels, selections from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), pp. 469–500
• Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847), pp. 218–19
Week 4. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 10, 2022
• Marx, Address to the Central Committee of the Communist League (1850), pp. 501–511 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. 17, 2022
+ 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 |
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
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Marx on surplus-value 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
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 6. Nov. 24, 2022 U.S. Thanksgiving break
Week 7. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Dec. 1, 2022
• 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
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 9. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Dec. 8, 2022
• 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
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ 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 | Dec. 15, 2022
• Korsch, “Marxism and philosophy” (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ 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)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)
+ Carl Schorske, The SPD 1905-17: The Development of the Great Schism (1955)
+ J.P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg (1966) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
+ 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
Welches sind die ererbten Probleme und Aufgaben der Alten und Neuen Linken, die zur GrĂĽndung der Partei DIE LINKE fĂĽhrten? Welche Bedeutung hat DIE LINKE im Kampf fĂĽr den Sozialismus und was sind die Lehren der letzten zwei Jahrzehnte fĂĽr eine neue Generation von Sozialisten?
Die umstrittenste Annahme des Marxismus ist die Diktatur des Proletariats. Und in der Tat bildet sie das, wodurch sich der Marxismus politisch, ideologisch und theoretisch, intellektuell, praktisch und organisatorisch auszeichnet. Der Tod der Linken misst sich an der Abkehr von dieser These.
"Society is a reality sui generis; it has its own characteristics that are either not found in the rest of the universe or are not found there in the same form."
— Emile Durkheim
"Society is a sui generis being with its own special nature, distinct from that of its members, and a personality of its own different from individual personalities."
Zeit: Donnerstags, 18:30 bis 21:30 Uhr
Ort: PEG -Gebäude Raum 1.G131, Campus Westend
Kontakt: platypus.frankfurt@gmail.com
Die Texte werden im Voraus gelesen und dann zusammen diskutiert. Alle sind herzlich willkommen!
â—Ź vorausgesetzte Texte
+ zusätzliche, empfohlene Texte
Vorausgesetzte HintergrundlektĂĽre:
• Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
Empfohlene, zusätzliche Hintergrundtexte:
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
+ Adorno, Introduction to Sociology 1962 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophical Elements of a Theory of Society 1964 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophy and Sociology 1960 lectures
Einleitende Texte:
• Adorno, “Gesellschaft” (1965; in: Adorno, Soziologische Schriften I; wird auf Anfrage per Email verschickt)
• Benjamin Constant: „Von der Freiheit des Altertums, verglichen mit der Freiheit der Gegenwart”(1819)
Schaubilder und Begriffe:
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
1. Woche: 01.09.22
• Adorno, “Gesellschaft” (1965; in Adorno, Soziologische Schriften I)
+ Chris Cutrone, "Gillian Rose's 'Hegelian' critique of Marxism" (2010)
• Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology (1981/95) selections: Preface for 1995 reprint, 1. The Antinomies of Sociological Reason, 7. With What Must the Science End?
2. Woche: 08.09.22
• Epigraphe über moderne Geschichte und Freiheit von Louis Menand (über Marx und Engels), und Karl Marx, über das „Werden“ (Aus den Grundrissen, 1857-58)
• Max Weber, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (1904-1905) Auswahl: Vorbemerkung, Teil 1, I. Kapitel 1-3, Teil 1., II. (+ Kapitel 1,) Kapitel 2 [wird per Email verschickt, bitte anfragen]
3. Woche: 15.09.22
• Auguste Comte, Introduction to Positive Philosophy (1830-42) I. The nature and importance of the positive philosophy; The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte vol. III Bk. VI. Social Physics pp. 1-11, 199-216, 277-344 [PDF Positive Philosophy of Comte selections]; A General View of PositivismCh. II. The Social Aspect of Positivism pp. 63-78, Ch. VI. The Religion of Humanity pp. 340-426 [PDF General View of Positivism selections]
+ Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018)
4. Woche: 22.09.22
+ Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
• Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Vol. I Part I The Data of Sociology Ch. I-IV pp. 3-40 [PDF] and Part II The Inductions of Sociology Ch. I-II pp. 447-462 [PDF]; On Social Evolution (Univ. Chicago selections): IV 15–16 Societal Typologies, Militancy and Industrialism and V 18–19 Ceremonial and Political Institutions; The Man Versus the State VI The Great Political Superstition [PDF selection]
5. Woche: 29.09.22
• Emile Durkheim, "The principles of 1789 and sociology" (1890); V Social Creativity Ch. 11-12; alles in On Morality and Society
• Emile Durkheim (1912): Die elementaren Formen des religiösen Lebens, Einleitung
6. Woche: 06.10.22
• Durkheim, Chapter 10. "The dualism of human nature and its social conditions" (1914), Ch. 4. "Individualism and the intellectuals" (1898); IV The Evolution of Morality Ch. 6, in On Morality and Society
• Durkheim: Über soziale Arbeitsteilung (1893) Vorwort zur ersten Ausgabe und Einleitung
7. Woche: 13.10.22
• Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (1893) selections IV. The Evolution of Morality Chapters 7-9, in On Morality and Society;
• Durkheim: Über soziale Arbeitsteilung, Vorwort zur zweiten Ausgabe
8. Woche: 20.10.22
• Frankfurt School, Aspects of Sociology (1956) selections: Preface by Horkheimer and Adorno, Chapters I-VI, XII
• Adorno: “Gesellschaft” (1965)
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
Lesekreis zu Klassischer Soziologie
Die Texte werden im Voraus gelesen und dann zusammen diskutiert. Alle sind herzlich willkommen!
Zeit: Mittwochs 19 - 22 Uhr [in Woche 4 am Dienstag!]
Ort: Liebknecht-Haus, BraustraĂźe 15, 04107 Leipzig
â—Ź vorausgesetzte Texte
+ zusätzliche, empfohlene Texte
Vorausgesetzte HintergrundlektĂĽre:
• Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
Empfohlene, zusätzliche Hintergrundtexte:
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
+ Adorno, Introduction to Sociology 1962 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophical Elements of a Theory of Society 1964 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophy and Sociology 1960 lectures
Einleitende Texte:
• Adorno, “Gesellschaft” (1965; in: Adorno, Soziologische Schriften I; gesamtes Buch kann auf Anfrage per Email verschickt werden)
• Benjamin Constant: „Von der Freiheit des Altertums, verglichen mit der Freiheit der Gegenwart”(1819)
Schaubilder und Begriffe:
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
Woche 1: 17. August 2022
• Adorno, “Gesellschaft” (1965; in Adorno, Soziologische Schriften I)
+ Chris Cutrone, "Gillian Rose's 'Hegelian' critique of Marxism" (2010)
• Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology (1981/95) Auswahl: Preface for 1995 reprint, 1. The Antinomies of Sociological Reason, 7. With What Must the Science End?
Woche 2: 24. August 2022
• Epigraphe über moderne Geschichte und Freiheit von Louis Menand (über Marx und Engels), und Karl Marx, über das „Werden“ (Aus den Grundrissen, 1857-58)
• Max Weber, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (1904-1905) Auswahl: Vorbemerkung, I. Teil Kapitel 1-3, II. Teil Kapitel 2 (+ Kapitel 1) [wird per Email verschickt, bitte anfragen]
Woche 3: 31. August 2022
• Auguste Comte, Introduction to Positive Philosophy (1830-42) I. The nature and importance of the positive philosophy
• Comte, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte vol. III Auswahl: Bk. VI. Social Physics pp. 1-11, 199-216, 277-344 [PDF Positive Philosophy of Comte Auswahl]
• Comte, A General View of Positivism Auswahl: Ch. II. The Social Aspect of Positivism pp. 63-78, Ch. VI. The Religion of Humanity pp. 340-426 [PDF General View of Positivism Auswahl]
+ Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018)
Woche 4: 06. September 2022
+ Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
• Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Vol. I Auswahl: Part I The Data of Sociology Ch. I-IV pp. 3-40 [als PDF] und Part II The Inductions of Sociology Ch. I-II pp. 447-462 [als PDF]
• Spencer, On Social Evolution: Selected Writings Auswahl: IV 15–16 Societal Typologies, Militancy and Industrialism und V 18–19 Ceremonial and Political Institutions
• Spencer, The Man Versus the State Auswahl: VI The Great Political Superstition [als PDF]
Woche 5: 14. September 2022
• Emile Durkheim, "The principles of 1789 and sociology" (1890); V Social Creativity Ch. 11-12; alles in On Morality and Society
• Durkheim, Die elementaren Formen des religiösen Lebens (1912), Einleitung
Woche 6: 21. September 2022
• Durkheim, Chapter 10. "The dualism of human nature and its social conditions" (1914), Ch. 4. "Individualism and the intellectuals" (1898); III. The Evolution of Morality Ch. 6, in On Morality and Society
• Durkheim, Über soziale Arbeitsteilung (1893) Auswahl: Vorwort zur ersten Ausgabe [gesamte PDF auf englisch] und Einführung
Woche 7: 28. September 2022
• Durkheim, III. The Evolution of Morality Chapters 7-9, in On Morality and Society
• Durkheim, Über soziale Arbeitsteilung, Vorwort zur zweiten Ausgabe
Woche 8: 05. Oktober 2022
• Frankfurter Schule, Aspects of Sociology (1956) Auswahl: Preface by Horkheimer and Adorno, Chapters I-VI, XII [deutsche Version wird auf Anfrage zugeschickt]
• Adorno, "Gesellschaft" (1965)Â
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961) [deutsche Version wird auf Anfrage zugeschickt]
