Concrete Philosophy, The Mystery of Love, and The Absurdity of Evil

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Heideggerian Marxism

An extended review of the English collection of Marcuse's essays and interviews on Heidegger that addresses the philosophical basis of a synthesis of Marx and Heidegger

Situating Martin Heidegger’s claim to a “productive dialogue” with Marxism

This critical review aims to more fully situate the claim Martin Heidegger makes in ‘Letter on Humanism’ that a “productive dialogue” between his work and that of Karl Marx is possible. The prompt for this is Paul Laurence Hemming’s recently published Heidegger and Marx: A Productive Dialogue over the Language of Humanism (2013) which omits to fully account for the historical situation which motivated Heidegger’s seemingly positive endorsement of Marxism. This piece will show that there were significant external factors which influenced Heidegger’s claim and that, when seen within his broader corpus, these particular comments in “Letter on Humanism” are evidently disingenuous, given that his general opinion of Marxism can only be described as vitriolic. Any attempt to explore how such a “productive dialogue” could be construed must fully contextualise Heidegger’s claim for it. This piece will aim to do that, and more broadly explore Heidegger’s general opinion of Marxism

Alexandre Kojève's concrete philosophy and Jacques Lacan's imaginary theory

Lacan's interest for dialectics is not related to Hegelian idealism. What attracts him is the specificity of the Kojèvian reading as it promotes an anthropologization of The Phenomenology of Mind. With this approach, Hegel's absolute idealism becomes a concrete philosophy. Since it was the philosophy that influenced Lacan's theoretical production, the aims of this article are to accomplish its general exhibition and to point out some important moments of the crossing between dialectical anthropogenesis and Lacanian discourse, specially emphasizing three segments: what Lacan takes from Kojève for the construction of his own imaginary theory, in which points he differs from this philosophy and its influence in the transition movement from imaginary to symbolic.O interesse de Lacan pela dialética não cai sobre o idealismo hegeliano. O que lhe atrai é a especificidade da leitura kojèviana na medida em que promove uma antropologização da Fenomenologia do Espírito. Com essa leitura, o idealismo absoluto de Hegel transforma-se numa filosofia concreta. Uma vez que foi essa a filosofia a influenciar a produção teórica de Lacan, os objetivos desse artigo são realizar uma sua exposição geral e apontar alguns importantes momentos do cruzamento entre antropogênese dialética e discurso lacaniano, ressaltando especialmente três segmentos: o que Lacan retoma de Kojève para a sua teoria do imaginário, em que pontos afasta-se dele e a influência dessa filosofia no movimento de transição do imaginário ao simbólico

Marcuse’s Brand of Critical Theory and Post-Colonialism

Studies discussing critical theory and post-colonialism consider only the works of Horkheimer and Adorno and are largely focused on revealing disparities between the two approaches. Writings of Herbert Marcuse in which we discover the same themes and issues as in postcolonial studies are totally disregarded, which makes the argument about disparities between critical theory and post-colonialism false to a certain extent. This article argues that critical theory and post-colonialism are not two mutually opposed projects, at least not with Marcuse’s version of critical theory. Both approaches are critical of the established reality, both reject positivism, both are interdisciplinary, both are dedicated to the radical praxis and, both offer a blueprint of a new socialist society. At the outset, I discuss critical theory and post-colonialism arguing that postcolonial theory can function as a global critical theory. Subsequently, I analyse the theoretical closeness of Marcuse and Fanon while attempting to show how Marcuse’s form of activist critical theory influenced not only Fanon but other subaltern liberation movements too. In the closing part, I explore visions of socialism that in Marcuse’s and Fanon’s works serve both as a critical concept and as the point at which goals of postcolonial and critical theory are realised