For Marx and Marxism: An Interview With Kostas Axelos

Memos, Christos

doi:10.1177/0725513609105487

Cited by 2 publications

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“…For Axelos, 'there is a dogmatic element in Marx's thought itself, the closure of many questions'. 29 But how successfully can someone uncover Marx's dogmatism by using a 'dogmatic reading' of Marx? How could one criticize Marx's presuppositions by presupposing and espousing an 'orthodox reading' of Marx?…”

Section: Marx and The Metaphysics Of Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Axelos, Castoriadis, Papaioannou and Marx

Memos

2013

Philosophy & Social Criticism

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The intellectual ferment that emerged in postwar France was marked by the renaissance of Hegel's thought and the focus on Marx's early writings. In a parallel way, the death of Stalin, the uprising of 1953 in East Germany and the revolts in Hungary and Poland in 1956 provoked a thorough critique against the theory and practice of orthodox Marxism. The relationship between Marx and Marxism or the issue about the philosophical foundations of Marx's thinking became the subject of long-standing controversy and gave rise to several interpretations of Marx's work. These debates were decisively fostered by the foreign intellectuals and refugees who arrived in France after the end of the Second World War; inter alia, a generation of young Greek intellectuals that included the prominent figures of Kostas Axelos, Cornelius Castoriadis and Kostas Papaioannou. This article focuses on Axelos', Castoriadis' and Papaioannou's critique of Marx and provides an anticritique of their intellectual endeavour. It outlines the common basis of their critical confrontation with the Marxian theorizing and argues that they interpreted Marx's thought in a manner similar to orthodox Marxism. Despite the undoubted merits of their critique, they did not take it to all its theoretical and political conclusions. As a result, the horizons they opened lack radicalism and their dialogue with Marx was left open to being misunderstood.

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Section: Marx and The Metaphysics Of Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%