On 8/7/09, Phil Walden <p...@pwalden.fsnet.co.uk> wrote: > I live in Oxford and clashed with G. A. Cohen at seminars at which I tried > to persuade him to take Hegel's dialectics and Marx's dialectics seriously. > In particular, Hegel's Science of Logic was a completely closed book to > Cohen because for reasons of professional advantage, Cohen adopted the > British Professional Philosopher view of Bertrand Russell etc. that Hegel's > logic is simply irrational. This was always just stated as an assertion, or > with a 'clever' Oxford academic 'joke', without any thought of having a real > engagement with Hegel's Logic. My efforts, at least as far as Cohen were > concerned, were completely forlorn, I think because his background in the > Canadian CP had corroded and fixed his mind and intellect to the extent that > he could not grasp Hegel's dialectics or Marx's dialectics, and he took > refuge in analytical 'Marxism' and abstract moral 'theory'.
^^^^^ CB: Maybe there's a dialectical contradiction here (smile_, but CP's teach dialectics, Hegelian and Marxist. See for example , Lenin's essay on Karl Marx or Engels' _Ludwig Feuerbach_ or _Anti-Duhring_ very much featured in CP teaching in this area. _The Manifesto of the Communist Party_ is informed by dialectics. It seems very unlikely that Cohen'a dismissal of dialectics came from following any example of the Canadian CP ^^^^^ His always > arrogant dismissal of dialectics did, I think, do some and probably all of > his students a lot of damage. He was, of course, rigorous, in an analytical > philosophical kind of way, but at the level of imagination he was very > limited. Ralph Dumain would have absolutely knocked spots off him, given > Ralph's wide reading and relatively undogmatic approach. Look at 'Analytical > Marxism' now. It has utterly disintegrated. That is partly because it never > had any connection with Marx's thought, although it tried, through > linguistic tricks, to claim that it did have something to do with Marx. Ask > yourself the question: what are the positive proposals of 'Analytical > Marxism' for how society should be in the future....an individualistic > 'utopia' in which there is a strategic denial that the fundamental > contradiction in human society is that between capital and labour. > > Phil Walden > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: marxism-thaxis-boun...@lists.econ.utah.edu > [mailto:marxism-thaxis-boun...@lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of > farmela...@juno.com > Sent: 07 August 2009 19:14 > To: marxistphiloso...@yahoogroups.com > Cc: marxism-thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] [marxistphilosophy] G.A. Cohen Goes Home > > > > Well on Marxmail I had posted > the following in response to > another poster, who had drawn > a comparison between Cohen and > Althusser. > > ------------------- > I suspect that Jerry Cohen would > not have minded if people took > note of his passing by debating > the merits of his works. > > Actually, I find his reading > of Marx to have been closer > to the readings that were > provided by such Second > International Marxists like > Kautsky and Plekhanov. > I believe that > somewhere in KMTH he makes > such an acknowledgement. > But yet he did seem to have > to come to such a reading by way > of Althusser, even though > he rejected Althusserianism. > > G.A. Cohen discussed Althusser > in his foreword to KMTH. There, > after detailing some of the > positive contributions of the > Althusserians to Marxism > (which for Cohen included the re-emphasis > on Marx's more mature writings like > *Capital* rather than the earlier > writings like the *1844 Manuscripts* > and the attention that > Althusser and his followers paid to > historical materialism) then > proceeded to note what he regarded > as some of their more negative attributes. > > Writing thus: > > "Above all, I found much of *Lire Capital* critically vague. It > is perhaps a matter for regret that logical positivism, with its > insistence on precision of intellectual commitment, never > caught on in Paris. Anglophone philosophy left logical positivism > behind long ago, but it is lastingly the better for having engaged > with it. The Althusserian vogue could have unfortunate consequences > for Marxism in Britain, where lucidity is a precious heritage, and > where it is not generally supposed that a theoretical statement, > to be one, must be hard to comprehend." > > Alas, one consequence of Cohen's work was to revive the > very sort of mechanical materialism that Althusser had > rejected along with humanist Marxism, but which > the young Jerry Cohen seems to have imbibed along with his > mother's milk, having been born and raised within > the milieu of the Canadian CP. Cohen, himself, years > later, came to see the inadequacy of this type of historical > materialism but seemed to draw the conclusion that the > problem laid with historical materialism in general rather > than with the specific variety of historical materialism > that he had embraced. > > Jim Farmelant > ---------- Original Message ---------- > From: jksc...@yahoo.com > To: "marxist philosophy" <marxistphiloso...@yahoogroups.com> > Subject: [marxistphilosophy] G.A. Cohen Goes Home > Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 17:57:20 +0000 > > Unless I missed it the death the other day of Jerry Cohen attracted no > comment on a list devoted to Marxist philosophy. I know that as first a > founder of analytical Marxism, then as a refugee from Marxism to liberal > egalitarianism, he was not favored among the participants here. But IMHO he > was one of the most influential and important Marxist thinkers of the latter > half of the 20th century, and his legacy requires comment. > > Not much time here but I will note a few thoughts; > > - In the context of a sharp decline in the quantity and quality of Marxist > theory, Cohen and the AMs stood for the disconnection of theory from > practice, the entrenchment of Marxism as another academic exercise. In some > ways this was not their fault giving the collapse of Marxism as a movement > and a force in the world. > > - Cohen helped bring a level of rigor and precision in Marxist thinking that > had been sorely lacking for a very long time. If it's complained that his > work lacked popular accessibility, what are we to say about Adorno, a > favorite here who gets wide discussion? > > - Cohen's major work on Karl Marx's Theory Of History is very valuable, but > went down the wrong track in reviving a stagist, mechanical, primacy of the > productive forces 2d Internat'l conception of historical materialism. > (Possibly due in part to his roots in the Canadian CP.) > > True, Marx gave that view a lot of space, but Cohen almost totally > neglected Marx's alternative class struggle view, which I think is more true > and valuable and gets no less, arguably more, space. Brenner is far better > on this (and no less rigorous). > > - Cohen's turn to traditional style moral philosophy as important, first as > a complement to his idea of historical materialism, then as a replacement > for Marxism and materialist analysis, was a major retrogression. No doubt > there is more ethics in Marx and Marxism than Marx cared to admit, but Marx > pointed the way in integrating these into materialist analysis. > > Cohen's own positive ethical views were, moreover, disappointingly primitive > and underdeveloped. See his awful Egalitarianism book, but also earlier > papers on exploitation and his paper critiquing value theory -- a real train > wreck. And I don't accept value theory myself! I haven't carefully read the > last book in Rawls. > > Btw in that book Cohen lists as the big three books on political philosophy > Rawls' A Theory of Justice, Hobbes' Leviathan, and Plato's Republic. Marx's > Capital doesn't make his cut. Given Cohen's a priori turn to liberal > morality, Marx might be happy to be left out. > > - Cohen was nonetheless a major influence, one of the few really original > thinkers in late 20th century Marxism, along with perhaps Althusser -- who, > it might argued, paralleled him in a French sort of way. The people we tend > to discuss, Marx, the Western Marxists, all had their roots and did much or > all of their important work before 1950. > > It says something about the state of Marxism that Cohen and Althusser are > among the giants of postwar Marxism. > > More later. > > Justin > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marxistphilosophy/ > > <*> Your email settings: > Individual Email | Traditional > > <*> To change settings online go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marxistphilosophy/join > (Yahoo! ID required) > > <*> To change settings via email: > mailto:marxistphilosophy-dig...@yahoogroups.com > mailto:marxistphilosophy-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > marxistphilosophy-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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