Critique of Dialectical Reason, Vol. 1At the height of the Algerian war, Jean-Paul Sartre embarked on a fundamental reappraisal of his philosophical and political thought. The result was the Critique of Dialectical Reason, an intellectual masterpiece of the twentieth century, now republished with a major original introduction by Fredric Jameson. In it, Sartre set out the basic categories for the renovated theory of history that he believed was necessary for post-war Marxism. Sartre’s formal aim was to establish the dialectical intelligibility of history itself, as what he called ‘a totalisation without a totaliser’. But, at the same time, his substantive concern was the structure of class struggle and the fate of mass movements of popular revolt, from the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century to the Russian and Chinese revolutions in the twentieth: their ascent, stabilisation, petrification and decline, in a world still overwhelmingly dominated by scarcity. |
Contents
EDITORS NOTE | xi |
THE DOGMATIC DIALECTIC | 15 |
The Dialectic in Marx | 23 |
Copyright | |
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abstract activity actualisation alienation already alterity Anti-Dühring apodictic appears basis becomes bond characteristics collective common action common individual common praxis concrete constituted contradiction counter-finality defined destiny determination differentiation dispersal ensemble everyone's example exigency exis existence exploitation extent exteriority fact force free praxis freedom function fundamental fused group future gathering Hegel History human relations impossibility impotence individual praxis inert inertia inorganic integration intelligibility interest interiorised investigation isolation labour labour power lived machine Marx Marxist material matter means mediation milieu monism movement multiplicity necessity negation negative objectification organism particular passive passive activity pledge plurality point of view positive possible practical field practico-inert field precisely present produces proletarianisation proletariat realise reality relations of production reveals scarcity serial signified simply social society statute structure synthesis synthetic temporalisation thing third party tion totality transcendence transformation unification unified unity untranscendable violence whole words workers