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| Dialectical Phenomenology (1)
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"In Dialectical Phenomenology: Marx's Method, I analyze Marx's theorizing. I do so by
concentrating on his method. I formulate this method as dialectical phenomenology.
The body of this book spells out this method and illustrates it with a reading of the
Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy (1857-1858)
"Since its translation into English the value of the Grundrisse ("Outlines") for understanding
Marx's theorizing has become more widely recognized. In 1971 David McLellan translated a
volume of selected excerpts and in 1973 Martin Nicolaus translated the whole text. The
Grundrisse is particularly important as it combines the humanistic, philosophical concerns
found in Marx's early writings with the technical analysis found in Capital.
"Marx's method is a form of anti-positivism. Anti-positivism refers to a perspective that
consists of questioning taken-for-granted prevailing conceptions of reality, objective
knowledge or science. Anti-positivism inquires into how any given knowledge or reality is
possible -- its grounds or historical presuppositions.
"The aim of Dialectical Phenomenology: Marx's Method is to show the possibility of
theorizing that is conscious of historical grounds or presuppositions as opposed to the
unself-conscious mode that has characterized the main tradition of sociology. As Daniel
W. Rossides (The History and Nature of Sociological Theory, 1978) concludes in his
analysis of the history and nature of sociological theorizing, 'The only choice open to social
scientists is between being historical consciously (or problem-oriented) and being
unconsciously historical (ideological).'
"Although others have read Marx as a critical and anti-positivistic theorist, they tend to
interpret key aspects of his work positivistically. As against these inconsistent readings of
Marx, Dialectical Phenomenology: Marx's Method presents an interpretation of Marx's work
as exemplifying a consistently and completely anti-positivistic approach. I argue for this
interpretation by analyzing Marx's method of theorizing.
"The method of theorizing that I attribute to Marx overcomes the dichotomy between a
phenomenological sociology associated exclusively with the micro-level of social life
(individuals and their subjective mental states and their face-to-face interaction) and a
structural sociology associated with the macro-level (political and economic systems).
It combines an analysis of language with an analysis of social life. It does so by suspending
a mathematical version of language as composed of static elements, treating language
instead as a form of life, a way of (re)producing a social world. Thus it adds the dimension
of language but shifts from a notion of language as separate from life to a conception of
language as a form of life itself.
"Phenomenology has been criticized for reducing the study of social life to a study of the
individual. The alternative has been entirely structural, begging the issue that phenomenology
raises, the issue of consciousness. The conception of dialectical phenomenology as
presented and explained in Dialectical Phenomenology: Marx's Method deals with this issue
in a radical way. It treats consciousness not as originating with the individual and mediating
the individual's relation to society, nor as an epiphenomenon of external social forces. Rather,
it deals with the issue of reductionism by treating consciousness as an ongoing social
(historical) accomplishment.
"Dialectical Phenomenology: Marx's Method analyzes theory as a form of production in the
same way that Marx analyzes the production of capital. It provides a set of rules* for
reproducing Marx's method. The rules offer a way of analyzing knowledge, language and
the relations and practices of everyday life."
-- PREFACE to Dialectical Phenomenology: Marx's Method, Roslyn Wallach Bologh, 1979
*The set of rules provided by R. W. Bologh for reproducing Marx's method are:
Rule 1: treat concepts as grounded in an historically specific form of life.
Rule 2: treat individuals as grounded in an historically specific form of life.
Rule 3: treat a form of life as a totality of internal relations.
Rule 4: treat a concrete form of life as contradictory.
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Posted by rallen2 on 2008-05-05 11:28:05 | Rating: | Views: 63
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