Overview
- Offers one of the first full-scale accounts of Lukács’s Heidelberg Aesthetics in English.
- Reveals the links between Lukács’s account of society and his philosophy of art.
- Applies Lukács’s thought beyond the paradigm of class conflict, showing what it implies for analysis of human domination of nature, and the notion of rationality as such.
Part of the book series: Political Philosophy and Public Purpose (POPHPUPU)
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About this book
This book offers a radical new interpretation of Georg Lukács’s History and Class Consciousness, showing for the first time how the philosophical framework for his analysis of society was laid in the drafts of a philosophy of art that he planned but never completed before he converted to Marxism. Reading Lukács’s work through the so-called “Heidelberg Aesthetics” reveals for the first time a range of unsuspected influences on his thought, such as Edmund Husserl, Emil Lask, and Alois Riegl; it also offers a theory of subjectivity within social relations that avoids many of the problems of earlier readings of his text. At a time when Lukács’s reputation is once more on the rise, this bold new reading helps revitalize his thought in ways that help it speak to contemporary concerns.
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Keywords
- Critical Theory
- Western Marxism
- Phenomenology
- Social Theory
- Radical Philosophy
- History and Class Consciousness
- Edmund Husserl
- Emil Lask
- Alois Riegl
- Philosophy of art
- Heidelberg Aesthetics
- Reification
- alienation
- capitalism
- scientific socialism
- authoritarian populism
- neo-Marxian analysis
- subjectivity
- Max Dvorak
Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Road to Reification
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Front Matter
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The Phenomenology of Capitalism
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Front Matter
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Beyond the Proletarian Revolution
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“This monograph is also an invitation to relaunch a phenomenological inquiry into social alienation. It allows us to see phenomenology’s potential for understanding our contemporary situation, alongside, why not, contemporary Critical Theory.” (Clémence Saintemarie, Phenomenological Reviews, November 19, 2019)
“One of the formidable strengths of this book is its fluid style and clear signposting that makes the often-difficult subject material very readable. … Lukács’s Phenomenology of Capitalism is a major contribution to the recent season of Lukács studies, and it succeeds in offering both a new and a convincing perspective on Lukács’s thought.” (Robert Jackson, Symposium, c-scp.org, August 28, 2019)
“One of the formidable strengths of this book is its fluid style and clear signposting that makes the often-difficult subject material very readable. … Lukács’s Phenomenology of Capitalism is a major contribution to the recent season of Lukács studies, and it succeeds in offering both a new and a convincing perspective on Lukács’s thought.” (Robert Jackson, Symposium, c-scp.org, August 28, 2019)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Richard Westerman is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. He completed his PhD at Cambridge, before a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. His work is primarily on Lukács and the Frankfurt School, and he has also published on philosophical aesthetics.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Lukács’s Phenomenology of Capitalism
Book Subtitle: Reification Revalued
Authors: Richard Westerman
Series Title: Political Philosophy and Public Purpose
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93287-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-93286-6Published: 30 August 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-06631-4Published: 13 December 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-93287-3Published: 14 August 2018
Series ISSN: 2524-714X
Series E-ISSN: 2524-7158
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 308
Topics: Political Theory, Political Philosophy