Post-Kantian European Philosophy Seminar (Tuesday - Week 4, TT26)

Abstract: In the Feuerbach chapter of The German Ideology, Marx makes some striking remarks about consciousness which have been thought to frame his turn against the Feuerbach-inspired anthropology of his own early writings, and to usher in his mature historical materialism—whose later fruit was Capital. In this paper, I present Feuerbach’s understanding of consciousness and try to spell out Marx’s opposition to it. On the picture that emerges, Marx radicalizes rather than flatly opposes the conception of self-conscious humanity which Feuerbach himself inherits from his idealist opponents. This then bears on the character of historical materialism itself, along with our understanding of how a book like Capital might yet be a work of philosophy.  

Registration: If you do not hold a university card, please contact the seminar convenor or admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk at least two working days before a seminar to register your attendance.

Post-Kantian European Philosophy Seminar Convenors: Jack Wearing, Joseph Schear, Kate Kirkpatrick and Mark Wrathall.