Synopses & Reviews
Andrew Feenberg is the author of Lukács, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory (1986), Critical Theory of Technology (1991), Alternative Modernity (1995), Questioning Technology (1999), Transforming Technology (2002), Heidegger and Marcuse: The Catastrophe and Redemption of History (2005), and Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity (2010). He is also co-editor of Marcuse: Critical Theory and the Promise of Utopia (1987), Technology and the Politics of Knowledge (1995), Modernity and Technology (2003), Community in the Digital Age (2004), and (Re)inventing the Internet (2012). With William Leiss, Feenberg has edited a collection entitled The Essential Marcuse published in 2007. His co-authored book on the French May Events of 1968 appeared in 2001 under the title When Poetry Ruled the Streets
Synopsis
The early Marx called for the "realization of philosophy" through revolution. Revolution thus became a critical concept for Marxism, a view elaborated in the later praxis perspectives of Lukacs and the Frankfurt School. These thinkers argue that fundamental philosophical problems are, in reality, social problems abstractly conceived.
Originally published as Lukacs, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory, The Philosophy of Praxis traces the evolution of this argument in the writings of Marx, Lukacs, Adorno and Marcuse. This
reinterpretation of the philosophy of praxis shows its continuing relevance to contemporary discussions in Marxist political theory, continental philosophy and science and technology studies.
Synopsis
Philosophy of Praxis examines the work of four Marxist thinkers, the early Marx and Lukács, and the Frankfurt School philosophers Adorno and Marcuse. The book holds that fundamental philosophical problems are in reality social problems, abstractly conceived. This argument has two implications: on the one hand, philosophical problems are significant insofar as they reflect real social contradictions; on the other hand, philosophy cannot resolve the problems it identifies because only social revolution can eliminate their social causes. Feenberg’s Lukacs, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory was an intellectual history of these discussions. Philosophy of Praxis is an update of that classic theoretical work, which details how the discussion has been taken up by contemporary schools of thought, including Marxist political theory and continental philosophy.
Synopsis
The early Marx called for the “realization of philosophy” through revolution. Revolution thus became a critical concept for Marxism, a view elaborated in the later praxis perspectives of Lukács and the Frankfurt School. These thinkers argue that fundamental philosophical problems are, in reality, social problems abstractly conceived.
Originally published as Lukács, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory, The Philosophy of Praxis traces the evolution of this argument in the writings of Marx, Lukács, Adorno and Marcuse. This
reinterpretation of the philosophy of praxis shows its continuing relevance to contemporary discussions in Marxist political theory, continental philosophy and science and technology studies.
Synopsis
Andrew Feenberg is the author of
Critical Theory of Technology; Alternative Modernity; Questioning Technology; Transforming Technology; Heidegger and Marcuse: The Catastrophe and Redemption of History; and Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity.
About the Author
Andrew Feenberg is a professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.