Marx had an historical approach. That is not the same thing as "empiricism."
Taking empirical data seriously does not necessarily carry the epistemological
baggage of "empiricism." There is nothing inconsistent about a Marxist rejection
of empiricist methodology, epistemology, ontology. I am not uncritical of
Resnick and Wolff, and in fact I think they themselves sometimes seem to
conflate empiricism and an historical approach, but I think they raise important
issues, their basic critique of rationalism and empiricism is sound, and their
insistence on careful consideration of methodological, epistemological and
ontological questions are important contributions to conversations in and around
Marxian economics and political economy. Mat
-----Original Message-----
From: Justin Schwartz
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 11/30/00 9:28 AM
Subject: [PEN-L:5157] Re: Re: RE: thanks for the zillion references to
Marx?(please check the list)
The best Marx bio is still David McLellan's Karl Marx. Franz Mehring's
older
book is good on Marx as a political activist. The new bio by Wheen is
interesting but a bit lightweight.
I don't care for the Wolff & Resnick volume. W&R have a silly
postmodernist
or post-ALthusserian "antiempiricist" theory that viates their critique
of
NCE and weakens their presentation of Marx, who is a consummate
empiricist--all those Blue Books!
The best thing I know on Marxist economics is King and Howard, The
Political
Economy of marx. They also have a two-vol. History of Marxian Economics
that
is really indispensible for people who are seriously intersted in the
technical matters. The Sweezy book is of course a classic, clear, lucid,
accessible to the beginner and rewarding to the advanced reader even
today.
--jks
Three very
>different introductory works are:
>
>David Riazonov, _Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels_
>Paul Sweezy, _Theory of Capitalist Development_
>Wolff and Resnick, _Economics: Marxian versus Neoclassical_
>
>There are also lively historical accounts that get a lot of ideas
>across, like Edmund Wilson's _To the Finland Station_.
>
>What do people think is the best Marx biography?
>
>Best, Colin
>
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