MARXISM CONSIDERED PHILOSOPHY as “bourgeois ideology.” This meant, first and foremost, radical bourgeois philosophy, the modern philosophy of bourgeois emancipation, the thought of the revolt of the Third Estate. But pre-bourgeois philosophy, traditional philosophy, was also addressed as bourgeois ideology, as ideology. But ideology is a modern phenomenon. There’s little point in calling either Aristotle or Augustine “ideology.” It is when philosophy is invoked in bourgeois society that it becomes ideological. (Religion, too!)

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Presented at the Left Forum 2018 on the panel “Has ‘the Left’ Accommodated Trump (and Putin)? A Debate,” with Ravi Bali, Brendan Cooney, Anne Jaclard, Daphne Lawless and Bill Weinberg, organized by the Marxist-Humanist Initiative at John Jay College in NYC on June 2, 2018.

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Detlev Claussen ist emeritierter Professor für Gesellschaftstheorie, Kultur- und Wissenschaftssoziologie an der Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität in Hannover. Entgegen einer Vereinnahmung durch den akademischen Betrieb und der Anklage eines kulturpessimistischen Rückzuges in einen vermeintlichen Elfenbeinturm verteidigt Claussen die politische Relevanz der Kritischen Theorie und geht in seinen Schriften auch dem Einfluss Lenins auf Adornos Denken nach. Jan Schroeder ist Mitglied bei Platypus. Das nachfolgende Interview fand am 21. März 2017 statt.

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Detlev Claussen is Professor Emeritus at Leibniz University in Germany and author of Theodor W. Adorno: One Last Genius. He defends Critical Theory’s political relevance against both academic co-optation and the charge of retreat into the academic ivory tower. His writings investigate, among other things, Lenin’s influence on Adorno’s thought. Jan Schroeder is a member of Platypus. The following interview was conducted in German on March 21, 2017. What follows is Clara Picker’s translation of the transcript of that interview.

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