Karl Marx's Theory of History: A DefenceFirst published in 1978, this book rapidly established itself as a classic of modern Marxism. Cohen's masterful application of advanced philosophical techniques in an uncompromising defence of historical materialism commanded widespread admiration. In the ensuing twenty years, the book has served as a flagship of a powerful intellectual movement - analytical Marxism. In this expanded edition Cohen offers his own account of the history, and the further promise, of analytical Marxism. He also expresses reservations about traditional historical materialism, in the light of which he reconstructs the theory, and he studies the implications for historical materialism of the demise of the Soviet Union. |
Contents
IMAGES OF HISTORY IN HEGEL AND MARX I | 1 |
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES | 28 |
THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE | 63 |
MATERIAL AND SOCIAL PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY | 88 |
FETISHISM | 115 |
6 Commodity Fetishism Religion and Politics | 125 |
7 Communism as the Liberation of the Content | 129 |
THE PRIMACY OF THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES | 134 |
3 Explanation of Property Relations and Law by Production Relations | 225 |
4 Bases Need Superstructures | 231 |
5 Is the Economic Structure Independently Observable? | 234 |
6 More on Rights and Powers | 236 |
7 Rights and Powers of the Proletariat | 240 |
8 Addenda | 245 |
IN GENERAL | 249 |
2 Explanation | 251 |
The Preface | 136 |
Outside the Preface | 142 |
4 The Case for Primacy | 150 |
5 The Nature of the Primacy of the Forces | 160 |
6 Productive Forces Material Relations Social Relations | 166 |
7 All earlier modes of production were essentially conservative | 169 |
8 Addendum | 172 |
THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES AND CAPITALISM | 175 |
2 The Capitalist Economic Structure and the Capitalist Mode of Production | 180 |
3 Capitalism and the Development of the Productive Forces | 193 |
4 Four Epochs | 197 |
5 Capitalisms Mission and its Fate | 201 |
6 The Presuppositions of Socialism | 204 |
7 Why are Classes Necessary? | 207 |
BASE AND SUPERSTRUCTURE POWERS AND RIGHTS | 216 |
2 The Problem of Legality | 217 |
3 Functionstatements and Functional Explanations | 253 |
4 The Structure of Functional Explanation | 258 |
5 Confirmation | 265 |
6 Are any Functional Explanations True? | 266 |
7 Consequence Explanation and the Deductivenomological Model | 272 |
IN MARXISM | 278 |
USEVALUE EXCHANGEVALUE AND CONTEMPORARY | 297 |
FETTERING | 326 |
RECONSIDERING HISTORICAL MATERIALISM | 341 |
RESTRICTED AND INCLUSIVE HISTORICAL | 364 |
MARXISM AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET | 389 |
Karl Marx and the Withering Away of Social Science | 396 |
Some Definitions | 415 |
LIST OF WORKS CITED | 425 |
| 433 | |
Common terms and phrases
analytical Marxism Anti-Dühring appears argument assert bourgeois capitalism capitalist Chapter character claim commodity concept consciousness criticism Critique of Political definition distinction economic structure Engels entails example exchange exchange-value existence explanatory exploitation fact favour fetishism Fettering feudal follows freedom functional explanation German Ideology Grundrisse Hegel ibid individual industry instruments of production Karl Marx labour power Marx Marx's Marxian Marxist matter means of production mode of production object occur output ownership phenomena Political Economy Poverty of Philosophy Preface premiss primacy thesis production relations productive forces productive power proletarian property relations question rain dance raw material reason relations of production religion restricted historical materialism revolution sense sentence slave social form social relations socialist spirit statement superstructure suppose surplus labour Surplus Value Theories of Surplus theory of history thing tion true use-value workers