Georg Lukács's Philosophy of Praxis

Georg Lukács' early Marxist philosophy of the 1920s laid the foundations of Critical Theory. However the evaluation of Lukács' philosophical contribution has been largely determined by one-sided readings of eminent theorists like Adorno, Habermas, Honneth or even Lukács himself. This book offers a new reconstruction of Lukács' early Marxist work, capable of restoring its dialectical complexity by highlighting its roots in his neo-Kantian, 'pre-Marxist' period. In his pre-Marxist work Lukács sought to articulate a critique of formalism from the standpoint of a dubious mystical ethics of revolutionary praxis. Consequently, Lukács discovered a more coherent and realistic answer to his philosophical dilemmas in Marxism. At the same time, he retained his neo-Kantian reservations about idealist dialectics. In his reading of historical materialism he combined non-idealist, non-systematic historical dialectics with an emphasis on conscious, collective, transformative praxis. Reformulated in this way Lukács' classical argument plays a central role within a radical Critical Theory.

Konstantinos Kavoulakos is Professor of Social and Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Culture at the University of Crete, Greece.

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Preface by Andrew Feenberg 1. Introduction: The Need to Reconsider Lukács' Philosophy of Praxis First Part: Method 2. The Problem of Content: a Neo-Kantian Theme 3. Flawed Philosophical Alternatives 4. Lukács' Materialist Theory of History Second Part: Theory 5. The Origins of the Concept of Reification in Lukács' Early Work 6. The Modern Form of Objectivity 7. What is Reification? Third Part: Praxis 8. From Mystical Ethics to Transformative Praxis 9. De-reifying Capitalism 10. Limits of De-reification 11. Epilogue: The Significance of Lukács's Philosophy of Praxis Today References Index