Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (50 volume set)

Average customer rating:
Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (50 volume set)

Manufacturer: International Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CSEEZM

Product Description

The complete 50 volume set. Each volume contains notes and index.

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)

Average customer rating:

The Hobo Philosopher
Must have for any wannabe idealist
Political Classic...read for historical insight
A Must Read
A Misleading Edition

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)
Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , and Martin Malia
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

German | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

German | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0451527100

Amazon.com

"A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles.

Book Description

Critically and textually up-to-date, this new edition of the classic translation (Samuel Moore, 1888) features an introduction and notes by the eminent Marx scholar David McLellan, prefaces written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels subsequent to the original 1848 publication, and corrections
of errors made in earlier versions. Regarded as one of the most influential political tracts ever written, The Communist Manifesto serves as the foundation document of the Marxist movement. This summary of the Marxist vision is an incisive account of the world-view Marx and Engels had evolved during
their hectic intellectual and political collaboration of the previous few years.

Download Description

Still relevant today both as a historical document and as a stirring call for social democracy, this New Albion edition includes Engel's extensive footnotes from the various editions, plus the changing Prefaces written first by Marx and Engels, and later by Engels alone, plus notes on the Manifesto and the various translations of it.

Customer Reviews:

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-14

Well, if you are a student of Philosophy or economics you must make this a part of your reading whether you want to or not. It is not long. It is not difficult. It is quite explicit. And after you read it you should have a better understanding of where you personally stand politically. I am not going to comment on what it says or advocates. Read it and find out for yourself. You won't need an interpreter.

Must have for any wannabe idealist.......2007-09-10

Well, obviously I havent read this fascinating piece of litrerature, but thats because a read book just looks so scruffy on my beautiful capitalist shelves.
This book makes me look a lot more sympathetic to all those wannabe commies, so why not dish out on a copy too?
Nah just joking, just read it and decide for yourself.

Political Classic...read for historical insight.......2007-06-27

My son required a copy of "The Communist Manifesto" for a philosophy class. After he was done with it, I decided to read it since this was one of the founding documents for Communism.

I found it difficult to decide how to rate this book. The presentation of Manifesto by Penguin in this book is excellent. The central ideas of the Manifesto itself are disturbing.

Should you read the Communist Manifesto? Yes. Is this a good presentation? Yes. Was Communism envisioned by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels a good idea? No. So I have compromised between the excellent presentation and the ideas espoused by the Manifesto in selecting an average rating.

Some reviewers feel that the Manifesto's critique of capitalism is right on; I have grave doubts. Marx and Engels were critiquing capitalism from an ivory tower. Their remedies for capitalism show that they had no real experience or contact with the workers in the trenches.

Some reviewers have mentioned the changing of labor laws due to the Manifesto, such as child labor laws (a generally agreed good thing). I believe those laws would have changed if the Manifesto had never been written. I believe those reviewers are seeing cause and effect relationships where there is none. I believe labor leaders in non-Communist states, pushing for change in labor laws, did not need belief in Communism behind them to push for change. Even without Communism, they would have done what they did anyways because the labor leaders came up from the laboring trenches. They knew first hand the abuses going on. The writers of the Manifesto did not; their ideas were theoretical. I know my ideas, in this area, are conjectures of what would have happened without the Manifesto, without Communism; there is no way they can be proven, history cannot be rewritten.

The remedy proposed by Marx and Engels is frightening. It foreshadows exactly how Communism gave birth to totalitarian states, to Communist dictatorships. Their remedy for capitalism requires a select group of leaders (Communist elitists) to force Communism onto the populace for the good of the people. We should all be suspicious of anyone who professes an idea that is for the good of the people because it invariably is not good for the people. To paraphase Lord Acton, "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely," and the states envisioned by the writers of the Manifesto set up perfect conditions of absolute power (for the good of the people) which in practice led to absolutely corrupt power. History has shown there has been extreme abuse by Communist leaders, who became power meglomanics, of the masses of workers in their states.

Indeed, history has repeatedly shown that the concentration of power in the hands of a select few led to abuse of power. The smaller the select, the greater the abuse. This has been true regardless of the political theories espoused by the leaders. Let this be a cautionary tale to all of us.

A Must Read.......2007-06-23

It amazes me that the effects of cold war propaganda drivel still permeates the minds of most Americans. This is easily one of the most influential works since it's publication in the 19th century. To say something along the lines that the pages should be torn out and used as paper airplanes is like saying the literary masterpieces Dickens should be used as toilet paper. Disagree with it all you want but at least acknowledge it's influence and respect it, as several reviewers have. Don't simply pigeonhole a great work due to the ignorance or American cold war dogma. If you are going to rant about this work at least get your facts straight. Hitler is not a communist..never was. As a matter of fact he hated communism just as much as most Americans do. Second, recognize communism is an ideal, just a capitalism is may I add, and there never has been a purely communistic state. If you are going to give this work a bad rating at least pretend you have read it. Most of the bad reviews are complete drivel and it is obvious the work has not been read. Give a reason why you do not like the book. Simply saying it sucks is not very insightful. Finally, do not give this a bad review simply because you cannot understand what is being said. If the merit of literary works were based upon how something is being said rather than what is being said Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton would not be considered literary geniuses.

A Misleading Edition.......2007-06-14

The following is the composure of the book:
pg. 1-170 Introduction by Translator
pg. 170-240 Various Prefaces of Other Editions by the Authors
pg. 240-280 The Manifesto

For those not familiar with Marx, who want to read the introduction and gain new insights--this is a brilliant setup.

For those who would rather just pay $2 for the Manifesto itself--this is disappointing.

Recommended for the student of philosophy, not the professor.

Average customer rating:

A classic compendium of Marxist thought
Essential Marx, all in one volume
Essay: Alienation from Humanity, on Marx and Mill
Essential Works Of Marxs & Engels For the Beginner!
The best collection we have

The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition
Robert C. Tucker , and Friedrich Engels
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 039309040X

Customer Reviews:

A classic compendium of Marxist thought.......2007-06-03

Whether or not one is a Marxist, knowledge of Marx' work is important in understanding the variety of political philosophizing over the millennia. Marx' political thought is sometimes difficult (think the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844") and sometimes transparent (e.g., "The Manifesto of the Communist Party," more popularly referred to as the "Communist Manifesto").

This edited work is one of the best introductions to the works of Marx (and Engels). The volume begins with the early Marx, which includes the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," excerpts from "The Holy Family" (in which he attacks some of the other socialists of the era), "Theses on Feuerbach," and the first of the truly classic works that Marx and Engels co-authored, "The German Ideology." It is interesting to note that "The German Ideology" covers much the same territory as "The Holy Family," with the major exception that Marx now addresses the intriguing and offbeat work by Max Stirner, "The Ego and His Own." In the process of addressing Stirner, Marx and Engels take the philosophical edifice to a more powerful level, creating a new perspective with a move away from idealism and toward materialism.

Other major works included are excerpts from "Das Kapital" (fairly turgid reading, I fear), the "Manifesto of the Community Party" (which ends with the famous phrase [page 500]) "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains."), the "Critique of the Gotha Program," and "The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" (with its great introductory phrase [page 594] "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.").

The final section of the work features the work of Engels, including "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific," "Anti-Duhring," "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State."

If one be interested in learning more about Marx (and Engels), this is an accessible edited work that provides some of the key works.

Essential Marx, all in one volume.......2007-05-19

If you're looking for a single volume collection of Marx (and a little Engels), this is the one you want. The other reviewers list some of the selections, but the bottom line is: if you've heard of it, it's here. This is the book I keep on my shelf for those (decreasingly common) moments when I want to look up something in Marx.

The only problem lies in the production values - - the pages are thin and light weight, and the font a bit small, in order to cram it all in. If you highlight with a yellow pen, you'll be frustrated because it will bleed through worse than usual. Use a ballpoint pen or a pencil. My eyesight is still good, but if it weren't, I suspect the font size would be another frustration.

Still, if you're browsing this page, you're in the market for Marx. This is the book you want.

Essay: Alienation from Humanity, on Marx and Mill.......2005-06-07

The modern age is a dangerous age, an age in which we might be alienated from that individual independence in work and in mind which defines our humanity. Confronted by this crisis, Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill offer the world diverging solutions: annihilate the existing world and march toward communism, or guard against the dangers of the existing world as we further embrace liberal democracy. Despite these divergent paths which arise from differing views on the driving force of history, both systems aim to rescue the supreme interest of our individual humanity-for Marx, this interest lies in reaching absolute prosperity for the material man, and for Mill, it lies in the search for absolute truth for the idealistic man.

With its emphasis on individuality and diversity, Mill's theory is in a sense more encompassing than Marx's. Mill's theory, however, is fundamentally flawed in comparison to Marx's because of its ignorance of property as a danger against human liberty.

Marx sees in the industrial age the death of the property-less class. This death is brought by the industrial age's five qualities: division of labor, accumulation of capital, competition, financial crisis, and monopoly. In this age, machineries and the division of labor reduce the skillful artisans to the proletariats who merely work on one monotonous element of production. The capitalists who own the machines enlarge their capital by exploiting the proletariat's labor, leaving them only with enough to eat. Competition forces capitalists to lower prices, but this is good only until each factory produces more than demanded and a financial crisis emerges. The small capitalists are reduced to the property-less as millions of workers are swept into deeper hell. Only the biggest capitalist survives, and he becomes the monopolist who can lower wages and raise prices at whim, destroying the lives of all. (Part 1, Bourgeois and Proletarians, Manifesto of the Communist Party)

The above scenario is unavoidable because the accumulation of more capital is the only end of capital. If the capitalist stops investing capital for gains he ceases to be a capitalist, and becomes a mere consumer of goods, enjoying the fruits of old exploitations. Tragically, capital can only increase when it exploits the difference of what labor costs and labor produces, as Marx writes,

"The modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few." (Marx p484)

The rich man sitting in his patio who has inherited a million pound and who lets others manage his money has not done anything to deserve profits, indeed, since he himself did not work, his profits must come from the works of others who he exploits. In the capitalistic system, there exists no pity, only keen self-interest, "all are instruments of labour, more or less expensive to use..." (Marx p479)

The workers might die, but before their body ceases to be exploited, their mind is already died-capitalism has alienated them from their humanity which is defined by their creative productivity. This alienation from our humanity was Marx's greatest worry. Animals make nests and produce goods just as we do, however, as Marx writes,

"...a bee would put many a human architect to shame by the construction of its honeycomb cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is that the architect builds the cell in his mind before he constructs it in wax... Man not only effects a change of form in the materials of nature; he also realizes his own purpose in those materials." (Chapter 7, Das Kapital)

In order to freely produce as the creativity of his mind directs him and as his productive ability allows, the material man must be endowed with control over the means of production. In the world of private property, however, the workers have turned from the master of production to the slave of the machine-they are reduced to programmed animals that produce merely for the end of survival.

The proletariat can only reassert his humanity by violent overthrowing the capitalists and through the "abolition of private property" (Marx p484). Once in communism, the workers will own the means of production and enjoy the full produces of their labor. He will be motivated to constantly transform the world into a more prosperous kingdom. As Marx writes, "In communist society, accumulated labour is but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the labourer." (Marx p485) The abundance of material goods will allow man to work not for survival, but for his own enjoyment. In this society, there will be no family and nor religion, everything is made for the love of all and enjoyed by all. Any vestiges of private interest would result in the return to capitalism with all its evils.

To Mill, the modern life is also threatening because the voice of the majority might alienate men from their individuality. The differentiation of society is essential for the vitality of the society, and this vitality empowers men on their search for truth.

Political debates, according to Mill, have been about striking the balance between the ruler and ruled. It is necessary for the ruled to have a ruler in order to preserve peace and law, yet the elected or unelected ruler's power must be restrained so that he does not abuse it against the ruled. In contrast to Marx's class struggle, this "struggle between liberty and authority" (p59) from Mill is more amiable. In the current era of democratic nations, however, since the ruled are also the rulers, the opposition no longer exists. People feel that all actions taken by the people's government will be good for the people, and hence they lose the old vigilance against the invasion of public power into their private spheres. The voice of the majority becomes the equivalent of the truth and justice.

Mill is worried that this majority voice will obstruct man's search for truth, the attaining of which is the goal of life. Truth is not reached once and then preserved for eternity, it is an organic being with a thousand facets whose survival requires continued inputs of each person's active mind. This truth is the individual treasure of each being, fitting perfectly to his taste and preferences; yet it is also a truth for the whole community, since it is only through the struggles of different truths that humanity as a whole reaches a higher truth-a higher level for the activation of the mind. As Mill writes, "There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths and point out when what were once truths are true no longer" (p71) If the majority religion is the only religion and taste the only taste, then people will no longer think but simply follow; society will be bogged into the swamp of mediocrity with a mind that is dead. Marx also feared the death of the mind, the mind of the creative worker. Despite the differences, both philosophers are concerned about the destruction of man's defining qualities.

To counter this, Mill proclaims that the only defense for "interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection." (p68). The government must be restrained in the sphere of public affairs, and individuals shall live as free as they want to following their individual passions.

Marx and Mill both want to regain humanity. In one case, the enemy is the benumbing effects of majority rule, and man's mind for truth is debased forever into mediocrity, in the other case, the enemy comes from the benumbing effects of subjugation to the machine, and the man is turned from the master of production into the slaves of capital.

The core difference between the two theories in practical operation arises from their different views on individuality (both systems serve individuals as their ends, however, individuality, allowing people to be different, are treated differently). For Mill, we must preserve individuality to bring truth (Chapter 3, On Liberty), but for Marx, the destruction of private property is the only task. The communistic society will be a union in which man can "...hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner..." (The German Ideology). This free life of a communist in communism is all good until one day the comrade does not want to be a communist anymore-but he must be one, there is no choice. In Communism, one does not have the individual liberty to have families, nor try to build a little store of private wealth.

On the other side, if someone in Mill's world decides to be a communist, he has the full right to do so. He can even segregate himself away with his friends and enjoy the life of a commune. In another word, Marxism can not destroy Mill's democracy-it will just be one of the many ways of thinking allowed by the system-but Mill's cry for diversity will destroy Marx's world within a second.

Confronted with the above, Marx would reply like he did in the Jewish Question, that the so-called liberty and freedom of the capitalistic world are nothing other than man's desire to keep himself a self-sufficient nomad. As he writes, all the rights of man are simply "the right to enjoy one's fortune and to dispose of it as one will; without regard for other men and independently of society." (Marx, p42) Marx will say that only seeing the superficial political liberation is not to see the deeper human liberation which could only be achieved with the abolition of private property. Marx might not be completely right, but he does stand at a higher ground than Mill in this analysis of property.

Mill in On Liberty is focused solely on avoiding the abuse of power through government, but he ignores the abuses that property owners are capable of against the property-less. In an agricultural society where everyone is equal and land unlimited, the government might be the only thing capable of suppressing individual liberty, but when one sees child-labor and 12 hour work day in modern industrial society, there is no doubt that capital could be a pitiless monster. Even when one ignores the industrial age, and tries to give Mill credit for drawing the best possible life for the pre-industrial man, one still can not avoid noticing the subjugation of the slaves, the suffering of the serfs, and all the other dark stories of the property-less in all the ages previous to the industrial one which Marx gives a full account of.

Marx and Mill were faced with the same modern phenomenal, the danger of been alienated from the defining quality of humanity in the face of a new economic and a new political system. Marx might not have made the best analysis, but he did have a deep understanding of history and the problems in history. He stood at the level of the common people and tried to solve their problems caused by their material desperation. Mill did not stoop to the common people, he looked up into the sky of truth and tried to preserve the march toward truth first embarked on by Plato.

Essential Works Of Marxs & Engels For the Beginner!.......2004-02-25

Given the impact of Marxism on the unfolding history of the later nineteenth and twentieth century, the beginning student of the combined writings of both Marx and Engels will find this collection of the essential works of these two pioneering socialists absolutely essential reading. Its list of included works covers the waterfront of all that is required to gain a fruitful first look at the wealth of their philosophical musings, and the nature of their revolutionary canon, as well. Reading this material is essential if one is to understand the depth of Marx's understanding and the detail of his genius, however discredited he may be in current estimations. Indeed, with the rise of international corporatism is so close to his prognostications regarding the final phases of capitalism that it is hard to deny his continuing relevance.

Included here is everything from the Communist Manifesto all the way to Volume One of Das Capital. One can gain a better appreciation for his ideas regarding the way in which the antagonism between the oppressed and the oppressors provides the motive force for history, and how all history is the history of such class struggles between the owners of the means of production, on the one hand, and the workers, who have nothing to barter with but their considerable capacity to accomplish labor. If one want to gain a better appreciation for the nuances regarding how alienation is created buy the organization of work, or the origin of property, or even the ways in which all of the aspects of a particualr society's culture are manifestations of the values of the ruling class, then a careful reading of the material found here will serve you well. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

The best collection we have.......2003-06-07

"The Marx-Engels Reader" is the best single collection of Marx's thought. What makes it doubly important, is that it is one of the few texts which contain an index. This sounds unremarkable, but believe me, it makes the text extremely more useful. This book transcends the state of being a mere anthology, and is an indespensible reference work.

Book Description

This second edition of McLellan's comprehensive selection of Marx's writings includes carefully selected extracts from the whole range of Marx's political, philosophical and economic thought. Each section of the book deals with a different period of Marx's life with the sections arranged in chronological order, thus allowing the reader to trace the development of Marx's thought, from his early years as a student and political journalist in Germany right through to his final letters of the early 1880s. The inclusion of extracts from some of Marx's less well-known works alongside selections from classic texts such as The Communist Manifesto and Capital provides the reader with an unparalleled overview of Marx's thinking, whilst Professor McLellan's fully updated and revised introduction and bibliographical notes accompanying each extract put Marx's writings into biographical and historical context. This edition also includes a general bibliography and a full index of names and ideas as well as a new general introduction for each section of the book by Professor McLellan. As with the first edition, this comprehensive and clearly structured selection of Marx's writings will be essential reading for all those interested in the political thought of this perennially important figure in Western political philosophy.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent collection.......2006-02-02

This is a brilliant collection of some of the very best writings of Karl Marx. A must read for anyone with interest in Marx's early writings (non-Marxist period), letters, essays, his Doctoral thesis, and then later on his political writings forming the `theory of historical materialism', commonly referred to as Marxism. Personally, his `Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 1844' is really a very nice reading because it renders a very attractive insight into Marx's early intellectual and psychological fight against Hegel's Phenomenology to form the basis of his theory later on. Also included is: Critique of Hegel's works and A Poverty of Philosophy (critique of Proudhon) which are excellent readings. Recommended to everyone; quintessentially to anyone trying to get an insight into one of the greatest intellectual minds of all time.

Subhasish Ghosh

St. Cross College
University of Oxford

Wonderful Anthology Of Marx's Theories and Ideas.......2004-02-27

When one considers the incredible influence that Marxism has had in the unfolding history of the later nineteenth and twentieth century, the beginning student of the combined writings of both Marx and Engels will find this collection of the essential works of these two pioneering socialists absolutely essential reading. Its list of included works covers the waterfront of all that is required to gain a fruitful first look at the wealth of their philosophical musings, and the nature of their revolutionary canon, as well. Reading this material is essential if one is to understand the depth of Marx's understanding and the detail of his genius, however discredited he may be in current estimations. Indeed, with the rise of international corporatism is so close to his prognostications regarding the final phases of capitalism that it is hard to deny his continuing relevance.

A Great Anthology.......2000-09-16

This is the best Marx anthology available. Aside from selections taken from all of Marx's major works, it contains lesser-known selections on a variety of topics. The whole presents a steady stream of selections through Marx's life. Consequently, it gives the length and breadth of Marx's writing without burying you in a life-time of reading. Short explanatory introductions help place the selections in Marx's development and in broader history.

A good follow up is Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski (3 volumes). Unfortunately those books are out of print in America, but they can still be found in good libraries and in the used-book market.

Excellent Selection of Marx's Writings........1999-07-05

This is an excellent selection of the writings of Karl Marx. This includes many writings which do not make it into the usual Marx/Engels Readers; Writings including Marx's Letters, his criticism of Bakunin, more writings on economics than in the usual Reader, and so on. One flaw of it, though, is that it does not contain the later writings of Engels writen after Marx's death. I suppose this is to be expected; It is after all *Marx's* writings, not Engels. However, the loss does not affect it much, and the book is still one of the most valuable tomes of Marxism I've bought. I'd recommend anyone interested in the thought of Karl Marx to get this book; If one is interested in both the writings of Marx and Engels, I'd recommend they get this book and the Marx/Engels Reader to supplement it. I have both, and both are fascinating.

The Cambridge Companion to Marx (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

Average customer rating:

The Cambridge Companion to Marx (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Surveys | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0521366941

Book Description

Marx was a highly original and polymathic thinker, unhampered by disciplinary boundaries, whose intellectual influence has been enormous. Yet in the wake of the collapse of Marxism-Leninism in Eastern Europe the question arises as to how important his work really is for us now. An important dimension of this volume is to place Marx's writings in their historical context and to separate what he actually said from what others (in particular, Engels) interpreted him as saying. Informed by current debates and new perspectives, the volume provides a comprehensive coverage of all the major areas to which Marx made significant contributions.

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays on How to Change the World

Average customer rating:

All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark
All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark
All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark
Powerful Insight Into Marxist Views & Political History

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays on How to Change the World
Ernesto Che Guevara , Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , and Rosa Luxemburg
Manufacturer: Ocean Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1876175982

Book Description

"Let's be realists, let's dream the impossible." Che Guevara's words summarize the radical vision of the four famous rebels presented in this book: Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto, Rosa Luxemburg's Reform or Revolution and Che Guevara's Socialism and Humanity. Far from being lifeless historical documents, these manifestos for revolution will resonate with a new generation also seeking a better world.

"The world described by Marx and Engels . . . is recognizably the world we live in 150 years later."-Eric Hobsbawm

"Rosa Luxemburg was a brilliant, brave and independent woman, passionately internationalist and antiwar, a believer in the people's 'spontaneity' in the cause of freedom; a woman who saw herself as Marx's philosophical heir."-Adrienne Rich

Customer Reviews:

All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark.......2005-08-11

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays On How To Change The World collects "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Reform or Revolution" by Rosa Luxemburg, and "Socialism and Man in Cuba" by Ernesto Che Guevara. All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark; here are ideas that transformed the world, with repercussions resonating to the modern day and beyond. A preface, introduction, and brief notes on the contributors round out this vital collection concerning political power, social consciousness, and the need for societal transformation, especially recommended for library and educational reference shelves.

All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark.......2005-08-11

Powerful Insight Into Marxist Views & Political History.......2005-07-29

Three very insightful essays. You can certainly learn and gain valuable insight to the ideals that literally have changed the world in many ways. Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto; Rosa Luxemburg's Reform or Revolution and Che Guevara's Socialism and Man in Cuba.

I really think this book is very enlightening and is a highly valuable read. And with that, I would like to comment on the second essay, the essay by the Polish Jew and political activist who attended Zurich University, Rosa Luxemburg. This essay was published in 1898, nineteen years before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

Rosa Luxemburg's essay consists of an attack on Eduard Bernstein's book entitled "Problems of Socialism," Seen from today's lenses reveals her erroneous absolute and dogmatic views, lacking in comparison to the logic of Bernstein. It's so obvious from the scientific Marxist views. Marx's and Engels views were based on rational science, Hegelian dialectics and like science, an exact blueprint of rational analysis. Today they call this "vulgar Marxism" and few follow it.(You can find a good analysis in Allan Bloom's, Closing the American Mind). Marxism today is not based on an exact science. That is the old view, the original view. And the obvious result of her attack on Bernstein is that everything she has attacked has come true, her defense for Absolutism, for exact science in economic history through Hegelian dialectics has proven false and inaccurate. Bernstein, on the other hand, has proven the greater prophet. And the answer lies in Luxemburg's very words of attack. In this she attacks him for his integral approach of aperspectivism in integrating multiple paradigms which allow the relative nature and uncertainty of the various shades and levels of both Liberal Democracy and Socialism. Bernstein's sees the differing aspects and refutes absolutism in Marxist science and dogmatism in its Hegelian nature. History, nor economic history, is not an exact science. And If I may take this a step further there are levels of subjectivity, objectivity, cultural and social aspects or the I, We and It (&Its) (the big three or the 4 Quadrants of Ken Wilber's Integral Psychology).

Bernstein sees the problems of socialism and the need for liberal democracy to reform slowly, even rejecting both (vulgar or original scientific, Hegelian) Marxism and Socialism and choosing to remain a liberal democracy but with socialist-liberal facets of nature (Roosevelt's domestic policies for instance), while Luxemburg seeing Marxism as an exact science sees revolution the only real way to bring forth Socialism. And although both thinkers are basically reduction in inter-objective social systems or political system theories, there still exists a major difference between both and that 150 years of time has vindicated (relativlty speaking: the low wages, poor and homeless in the U.S. are in large numbers) Bernstein's flexible and integral insight with greater value than Luxemburg's "flatland," which in Integral Psychology means interpreting realty or in this case, economic political history, as only in objective terms, failing to understand its relativity in dealing with the individual and collective human subjective nature.

AND now I will contradict myself: Luxemburg was right, Bernstein was not. After reading Howard Zinn's Peoples History of the United States, it is evident; the only reforms come from revolution. Socialism is always adamantly fought by the wealthy, compromises are extremely rare.

Now the essay by Che Geverra is the only without such a materialistic, Hegelian science and Marxist exactitude of empirical societal observation on economic meaning. It is much less dogmatic and in that sense less scientific, being much more utilitarian in practical means to achieve a socialist revolution and common sharing good of the Cuban society.

Marx: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions X)

Average customer rating:

Publisher Notes:
not bad, but not good
An easy to follow introduction
A Little TOO Short
An almost ideal introduction to the subject.

Marx: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions X)
Peter Singer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0192854054

Book Description

Peter Singer identifies the central vision that unifies Marx's thought, enabling us to grasp Marx's views as a whole. He sees him as a philosopher primarily concerned with human freedom, rather than as an economist or a social scientist. He explains alienation, historical materialism, the economic theory of Capital, and Marx's ideas of communism, in plain English, and concludes with an assessment of Marx's legacy.

Customer Reviews:

Publisher Notes:.......2006-10-10

The Past Masters Series is a concise, lucid , aythoritative introduction to the thought of leading intellectual figures of the past whose ideas still influence the way we think today. ... sees Marx as a philosopher, rather than as an economist or social scientis. ' an admirably balanced portrait of the man and his achievement' says Philip Toynbee, Observer.

not bad, but not good.......2006-02-10

Very little of the text is devoted to analyzing Marx's most important work. For example, a total of one chapter (~30 pages) is devoted to Das Kapital, Marx's seminal work.

On the other hand, excessive attention is paid to unimportant aspects of Marx. For example, most of the book is spent analyzing Marx's philosophical background, his obscure earlier works, his philosophical predecessors (Hegel & Feuerbach), and the effects of his doctrines. The chapter devoted to Singer's mediocre economic analysis is as long as the chapter devoted to Das Kapital!

Although the book has some good material, that good material constitutes only ~30 pages.

An easy to follow introduction.......2005-04-13

I am doing an MA in political science and my professor screwed his nose up a bit when I showed him this, because Singer is not a name that one associates with Marxism. I bought it because I liked his anthology on Ethics so much. I must say that I don't agree with some of the conclusions that Singer draws in his assessment of Marxism at the end of the book, but his strength is his ability to write at a level that is easy to understand. He avoids jargon where possible and that in itself takes a lot of the mystery out of this stuff. I recommend this book as a good place to start when looking at Marx.

A Little TOO Short.......2005-02-28

I felt the later chapters of this book were well developed, but the first few chapters on how Marx developed his philosophy from Hegel's left me with more questions than answers. Overall, the book provides are decent foundation on which to critique Marx as a philosopher, social scientist, economist, etc. Singer brings up many common objections to Marxist thought, but he also presents Marx's ideas in a non-bias way and gives credit where he sees credit is due. I found the biography of Marx to be interesting along with the subtleties of his relationship with Engels. But in the end, I wish this book had been a little more detailed, especially with regards to Marx's early works and philosophy.

An almost ideal introduction to the subject........2003-08-22

Peter Singer's "Marx: A Very Short Introduction" is a superbly lucid and concise introduction to the subject of Marx and Marxism. Assuming the reader has no background in Marx's thought, Singer covers most of the important issues of Marxism and then assesses Marx's achievements and shortcomings in a refreshingly balanced manner.

What makes this book such a valuable introduction is Singer's clear understanding of what lies at the heart of Marxism: the issue of human freedom. Too many works on Marxism reduce it to a merely economic philosophy, which has the destruction of capitalism (and subsequent liberation of the world's workers) as its end. This is a gross misrepresentation of Marx's thought. Marx saw the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of a classless society as means toward the true end which he sought: the liberation of humanity from oppression and exploitation and a return to our true nature as creative, self-actualizing beings rather than mere laboring appendages to an economic machine. Marx envisioned a world in which humanity toiled with its individual and universal fulfillment as the goal, rather than a world in which a few grow rich while the many dig ditches or work in Asian sweatshops for Nike. Freedom, true freedom, was the purpose behind Marx's work and also his life.

Book Description

Capital, one of Marx's major and most influential works, was the product of thirty years close study of the capitalist mode of production in England, the most advanced industrial society of his day. This new translation of Volume One, the only volume to be completed and edited by Marx himself, avoids some of the mistakes that have marred earlier versions and seeks to do justice to the literary qualities of the work. The introduction is by Ernest Mandel, author of Late Capitalism, one of the only comprehensive attempts to develop the theoretical legacy of Capital.

Customer Reviews:

Doors of Perception.......2007-01-24

If :
- Your mum has taught you lots of valuable things (eat your vegetables, be nice to old people and little dogs, don't be late to school, keep a clean nose) but she was never really able to explain why you had to WORK for a living - instead of, you know, just living;
- Your teachers packed your head full with all kinds of useful knowledge (about prepositions and adverbs, mineralogy and astrophysics, the reproductive organs of plants, x+2-y=0) but they never told you how exactly PROFITS are made - and why anybody would want to make them anyway;
- Your friends and lovers can spend hours yakking about various interesting topics (the latest music machine, videogames, designer shoes, imitation leather sofas, blockbuster movies, pink underwear and cherry flavoured bubble-gum) but they call you a bore and a nitpick whenever you wonder why you're all surrounded by so many COMMODITIES and publicity ads promising you bigger, better and faster useless things.
- You often have the impression that some greater truth is lacking in your life (and you've tried all the legal/illegal drugs, exciting TV shows, gurus and psychoanalysts, help-yourself books and bestsellers about kid sorcerers)...

...Then the time may have come to have a long talk with good old Uncle Karl - the black sheep of the social sciences, the guy nobody likes to mention at social occasions (except in the form of a joke: "have you heard the one about Karl Marx in Las Vegas?"), the most misquoted and misinterpreted modern thinker.
In "Capital", he kindly invites you to break on through to the other side (that's how countercultural he was) and check out what's really happening behind the glitzy appearances of everyday life. You don't even have to be a genius to understand him (it will be enough if you can count to ten without choking). And you might be surprised about how obvious some things will seem after he explains to you about the cage you're sitting in.

Of course, mum will probably be broken-hearted and fear that you'll join the next anarcho-pinko-terrorist organization down the block. Your teachers might refer to a vast list of successful anti-Marx books and charity organizations. And your friends and lovers will find you an even greater bore than before.

Fascinating, Intelligent, and Obsolete........2005-11-23

"When Volume 1 of Capital was first published, capitalist industry, though predominant in a few Western European countries, still appeared as an isolated island circled by a sea of independent farmers and handicraftsmen which covered the whole world, including the greater part even of Europe," writes Ernest Mandel in his introduction to 'Capital'.

How did we advance to the present day?

An *economic* text, this book is considerably distinct from much of Marx's preceding output. Capital stands a work of theoretical economics similar to the output of David Ricardo in many ways -- calls for action, the nature of the state, and philosophical concepts are given little treatment throughout the 2,500 pages. Marx *did* write about ideas like commodity production, use-values and exchange-values, theories of surplus-value, crisis theory, organic and technical compositions of capital, the transformation problem, changes in the rates of profit, and much more. It is an analysis of *capital*, and hence, *capitalism.* There is little information about the mechanics of a post-capitalist society. After investing the time to read it, readers will be baffled when critics argue "50 bujillion people DIED as a result of 'Capital!!!'" (Marx died in 1883) -- "therefore Marx is wrong!" To be objective, a thinker can imagine the absurdity of blaming World War One, slavery in America, and imperialism on 'The Wealth of Nations'.

The volumes of this massive economic text were published successively in 1867, 1885, and 1894. Most economists feel marginalism has rendered it obsolete. At the end of the 19th century, Bohm-Bawerk argued since production occurs in a roundabout way, part of the product Marx attributed to workers needs to be employed to finance the roundaboutness. Workers would obtain the whole of what the produced only if production was instantaneous; as a result, interest must be paid no matter who owned the capital.

This is a brilliant work. The tough part is understanding the meaning of Marx's terms, which was especially difficult for me, learning the neo-classical viewpoint first. The first chapters took a few days to understand with confidence. After that, the sheer length of the text is formidable, though rewarding and absolutely fascinating.

please read the book before reviewing it!.......2005-06-29

Reading the "reviews" of Capital here on Amazon.com, a person who has read the book can see that most "reviewers" have not even troubled themselves read the book! Instead of taking the time and energy to plow through this work, many would rather get on a soap box and ramble on about their own views thereby "reviewing" the work.
I read the entire book from cover to cover. Not an easy task. It took me more than a year with persistence! But I did it.
Socialism is not mentioned once the the actual work itself. (Of course it is mentioned in the 87 page Introduction which some of the "reviewers" might have bothered to skim through!)
What is the name of the book? Capital! Not Communism or Socialism! One who has bothered to read this long book knows that the book has nothing to do with Communism. The book was supposed to form a scientific explanation of what the Capitalist mode of production was and how it formed and its' inner workings. Marx felt that after writing the pamphlet Manifesto of 1848, he owed it to the world tho explain what Capitalism was. It is a microscopic examination of the capitalist mode of production in mid-nineteenth century England. Granted that things have changed since 1850 England, the basic core of Capitalism hasn't changed.
The man was brilliant, he obviously spent a lot of time formulating an understanding of what Capitalism is. It was an eye opener for me into what Capitalism really is. It was stimulating to see how Marx in the work slowly but surely synthesizes his successive points one by one thereby building a model of the Capitalist mode of production for one to examine.
My only complaint was that it was too long. He could have said what he had to say in 200 pages rather than 800.

Seeing in the Fifth Dimension.......2004-06-18

I think it was the poor French philosopher Althusser who claimed that Marx had discovered a new continent of thought called "history" equivalent to the continents of thought discovered by Pythagoras (geometry) and Aristotle (science). I would use a different metaphor. It is as if Marx invented a pair of x-ray glasses that allows you the viewer to see the exploitation hidden in every commodity, no matter how beautifully it is packaged. I guess the only book it is really comparable to would be the Bible, edited and created in the year 207 by the North African Roman citizen Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. On the narrative level the books are quite opposite. The one starts with a single savior who comes to save the world, but ends up being exploited, abused and killed, thus needing saving, the other starts with a class that is exploited, abused and killed, but ends up saving the world. Of the two, Marx is definitely the more optimistic view. But if we could resurrect Marx as we resurrected Jesus, would he still have his optimism?

How Many Stars Do You Give to a Discredited Classic?.......2004-04-12

To tell the truth, I haven't read too much of Capital since I was assigned sections of it in a college course years ago. However, the opportunity to once again match wits with Amazon reviewer Mr. Walt Bryars, an Austro-feminist-scholastic studying economics in Tampa, Florida, was just too tempting to resist. His recent "review" of Capital can be found below (I've put the word in quotes since it isn't clear whether or not Mr. Bryars has actually read Capital, though he certainly hates it). Mr. Bryars' views are clearly stated therein but his suggestion that Marx lived in the 18th century is a bit off. News flash, Mr. Bryars: the 1800s were the 19th century, not the 18th century.

Regarding Capital, it was a towering achievement of 19th century thought. However, like the Wealth of Nations (written in the 18th century -- i.e., the 1700s) and other economics classics, Capital is mostly of historical interest today. The book can be thought of, at least in part, as an unintentional reductio ad absurdum of the labor theory of value which was bequeathed to Marx by Classical economists such as Adam Smith. Marx's tireless working out of the ramifications of this theory led him to embrace now-discredited conclusions about the declining rate of profit and the immiseration of the proletariat. Marx was wrong, in other words, about some of the central parts of his economic system.

On the other hand, there's no doubt that he was a genius of the first rank. To my knowledge, Marx was the first economist to seriously take up issues like underconsumption, boom-and-bust cycles, and the technology-driven growth of large business firms -- issues that only entered mainstream economic discussion decades later in the 20th century. (I'll defer to Mr. Bryars on the history here, since it's possible that Spanish Dominicans wrote about the growth of large corporations in the 17th century -- i.e., the 1600s.)

Since Capital is incredibly long and frequently obscure, readers interested in contemporary Marxist economic thought might be better off reading something by Paul Sweezy or Ben Fine. And readers looking for a readable, short, balanced, and easy-on-the brain overview of the totality of Marx's thought -- he was a philosopher and political thinker as well as an economist -- should consult Why Read Marx Today? by Jonathan Wolff.

Average customer rating:

Not for the feint of heart

Brilliant Plays

Synge-speak a century later?

Grotesques but well done grotesques

He's brilliant

The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Other Plays
Martin Mcdonagh
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | British & Irish | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Lieutenant of Inishmore

The Pillowman

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Shining City: Includes Come On Over

Modern Irish Drama (Norton Critical Editions)

ASIN: 0375704876
Release Date: 1998-09-08

Book Description

These three plays are set in a town in Galway so blighted by rancor, ignorance, and spite that, as the local priest complains, God Himself seems to have no jurisdiction there.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane portrays ancient, manipulative Mag and her virginal daughter, Maureen, whose mutual loathing may be more durable than any love. In A Skull in Connnemara, Mick Dowd is hired to dig up the bones in the town churchyard, some of which belong to his late and oddly unlamented wife. And the brothers of The Lonesome West have no sooner buried their father than they are resuming the vicious and utterly trivial quarrel that has been the chief activity of their lives.

"[McDonagh is] the most wickedly funny, brilliantly abrasive young dramatist on either side of the Irish Sea.... He is a born storyteller."--New York Times

Customer Reviews:

Not for the feint of heart.......2006-06-01

The best way to sum up Martin McDonagh? Quentin Tarantino meets Edward Albee. All three of these plays, also known as the Leenane trilogy, have several things in common: (1) violence (2) black humor (3) grotesque characters and (4) did I mention violence. Like Tarantino, McDonagh's use of violence is mostly humorous. When Maureen smashes her old mothers head with a fire poker, we laugh. We laugh because the poker has been conversed about at great length, about how it would make a supreme weapon. It displays the Chekov adage perfectly - if you show a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it better go off in the third. We also laugh because Muareen and her mother are so nasty, so disgusting and despicable that one of them deserves a sweet release. But not all the characters die - some are beaten with shovels, others crashed into walls, others have their heads shot off: and somehow they return, bloodied, confused, but alive, as stupid and indestructible as ever. And at times the violence is not funny, but chillingly cold - like when Maureen burns her mother's hand in boiling oil. We are caught in between, as our laughs melt into gasps.

Juxtaposed to all this violence is an attention to the prosaic. In an instant the characters can go from arguing about the merits of different brands of potato crisps to pointing a gun at one another's head. Very Tarantinoesque. Think of Vince and Jules tucking their guns into their shorts as they leave the diner in their "dork" t-shirts at the end of Pulp Fiction. One of McDonagh's characters blows off his father's head because he makes fun of his haircut. Sure, all this is funny, but I think McDonagh is also trying to show the petty, ignorant absurdity that is the human condition. Like Edward Albee there is a lot of witty repartee between the characters. They use esoteric words like "maudlin" that belie their boorish ignorance. Two of the brothers call one another "virgin gayboys." I don't know, but there is something funny about brothers calling one another "virgin gayboys." Not far from the way so many of the brothers I knew growing up talked to one another. The construction of the narratives are tight, dramatic, usually with sharp twist at the end. I've heard it before, and it was written in the New Yorker, that McDonagh is finished with play writing. So be it. But if Six Shooter is a sign of where he plans to go with film in the future, rest assured we will be entertained.

Brilliant Plays.......2006-05-23

As a translator of different plays from english to spanish I can assure you if there's an outstanding english playwright nowadays, then that's Martin McDonagh... it's only a shame he recently announced he won't be writing any new plays soon and will turn his talent to filmmaking, which is just as great but the theatre will have a terrible absence in years to come.

Synge-speak a century later?.......2006-01-24

The comments here reflect the larger debate roiling about McDonagh's use of stereotypical language and stock characters. There definitely is a rhythm sustained in each one of these three, with its ironic echoes of another observer of the West of Ireland, Synge, in his dialogues that veer near parody even as they for other listeners ring true of "English as she is spoken in Ireland." Whether this register is one of cruelty or affection or neither seems to still be an open question when critics and audiences are discussing these plays.

These three plays interlock with each other, with references tying characters and events into those of the other two dramas. Like "Cripple of Inishmaan," these three rely on a twist of a family set-up, a bitter and decades-long rivalry that at last bursts into violence, and a pause halfway on for a letter back from a character off in America or England that'll figure in the rest of the action. Of the three, "Skull" seems to drag on more than the others, perhaps because of its graveside setting that draws the characters into a place and locks them there for a time. "Beauty Queen" relies on a letter never received as its ploy, and while this moves the plot along, it does seem old hat. "Lonesome West" has been, in one review I read, called to task for the "ridiculous" Father Welsh Walsh Welsh (or vice versa), but I found his character the most recognizable of his caricatures, and in this play I believe McDonagh's working slowly towards arguably more empathy with the characters and situations he contrives. Girleen for the first time also gives us somebody we can listen to without feeling like she's distorted beyond all verisimilitude.

McDonagh does love his domestic brutality, and the cartoonish nature of his exaggerated disputes over Kimberleys, Wagon Wheels, Taytos, and the merits of cow burials five years exhumed make for entertaining repartee. With "Pillowman," I wonder if he's exhausted the codding and slagging of his Connemara/Aran forebears; after the "Lieutenant of Inishmore," it seems as if he's gotten sham-roguery out of his system and gone on to more "European" representations of more serious intent. Time will tell if these early plays are only the start of a long career or a burst of energy before calming his post-adolescent shock value gradually diminished into more subtle and intricate--and perhaps then more horrifyingly recognizable--explorations of violence and disruption within the mental worlds, no longer the propped-up Irish settings sketched wittily if loosely here in three Leenane plays from his relative youth.

Grotesques but well done grotesques.......2005-02-12

What he does he does well. Lonesome West is outrageous and hilarious and even a "wee bitten" sad. Beauty Queen has plenty of wit and poignant moments as well. But, his main characters aren't people. They're grotesques. The mother in Beauty Queen, the brothers and priest of Lonesome West, pretty much every character in Skull in Connamaragh. You never could confuse these characters with real people, they will always remain characters on stage or on the page. McDonagh and the audience look down on these characters and rightly so, they're psychopaths, freaks. You laugh at them not with them. McDonagh is entertaining and after years of Beckett and Ionesco and other avant garde types, its nice to see some action and a coherent story-line on stage, but there are times when you think that McDonagh is the quivalent of a good pulp writer, somebody along the lines of a Hammett or Chandler or even a Steven King or John Grisham. He writes good stories and is very entertaining, but he is not the kind of writer who will change the way that you look at the world or the way that you perceive yourself.

He's brilliant.......2001-04-21

Although my only knowledge of MM's work comes from seeing a recent production of "The Lonesome West," I would urge you to see/read his work. The man is brilliant! I haven't been this blown away in a long time.

P.S. - "The Quiet Man," his work ain't.

Average customer rating:

Worth it for the discussion of Marxism

Philosophy of History: Prove untruth, not truth

Portrait of the Philosopher-King as an Artist

Read the free excerpt - pg 7 Plato vs Pericles

A DIFFERENT VIEW OF PLATO

The Open Society and Its Enemies: Hegel and Marx (Routledge Classics)
Popper Karl
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Routledge Classics)

The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics)

Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics)

Popper Selections

Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach

ASIN: 0415278422

Customer Reviews:

Worth it for the discussion of Marxism.......2007-10-10

Popper's criticism of Marxist thought is the real payoff of the two volumes of this work. He writes with a passion that is at times overwrought - especially when teeing off against Plato and Hegel. Whether his criticism of their views is on the mark is incidental to the attack on Marx, and I leave it to the scholars of each to debate the merits of his critique. What Popper brings to the table is a clear exposition of his ideas. He makes a solid case for "social engineering" (an accurate but unfortunate term) as both a description of the past century and a prescription for addressing the problems with economic and social systems. This is a valuable and challenging book which will reward the reader willing to think through Popper's analysis.

Philosophy of History: Prove untruth, not truth.......2007-05-04

To Popper, science is a process of "conjectures and refutations"-- advancing bold conjectures about the state of the world and then trying to refute them. "Even in the study of history, objectivity should be sought in the institutions and traditions of a discipline. It is only through the give and take of open criticism and the ongoing interplay of many different kinds of biases that anything approaching objectivity will emerge." Thus, "truth" is seen as a hypothesis--you can't prove truth, you can only prove untruth. This is because one cannot know everything, therefore, nothing can be proved to be true.
Open societies, in Popper's definition, with their ideals of freedom and reason, of men who may create their own future, are opposed to the regimes of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Hegel and Marx are the main focus of the book. Aristotle built his theory on Plato; Hegel on Aristotle; Marx on Hegel. Popper is concerned with their philosophies of history. A philosophy of history is an attempt to interpret systematically the historical process by a principle that unifies the results of research and points to an "ultimate meaning" behind the process. It involves systematic reflection on scientifically derived data about the past. All the parts are unified to form a whole with "ultimate meaning."
It was thus not Marx's historicist method which led him to success, but instead the "methods of institutional analysis." In many democratic, capitalist countries production has been so great that the workers have a higher standard of living than Marx ever envisaged. He also had an unrealistic view of human nature--that because man is born good, changing his environment will bring happiness. But this view ignores the universality of human imperfection, and the sacredness of personality that is lost in the communist state.

Yet, Popper claims that Marx has done Christianity a great service by pointing out the humanitarian demands of Christ. Popper made many generalizations about Christianity without describing the basic tenets that have made Christianity "the strongest opponent of Communism." Popper does not view Christianity as being a "substitute from dreams and wish--fulfillment; it should resemble neither the holding of a ticket in a lottery, nor the holding of a policy in an insurance company." Popper opposes a "leap in the dark" of faith, whether by Marxists probing the beginning of evolution, or by those experiencing a personal relationship with God. Faith is necessary, but it is to be based on a rational understanding of the difference between belief and fact, and the appropriate place for both.

Portrait of the Philosopher-King as an Artist.......2006-08-22

When confronted with the rise of totalitarianism and the destruction of all that he held dear, Poper felt a single, overwhelming urge: to return to the Greeks, to the dawn of our civilization, so as to understand the root of the evil and to offer a practical way out of bestiality. His search was motivated by the insight that "this civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth--the transition from the tribal or 'closed society', with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society', which sets free the critical powers of man."

Heraclitus set the stage with his claim that "the cosmos, at best, is like a rubbish heap scattered at random." If "everything is in flux" and "you cannot step twice into the same river", then at least we can try to discover the historical or evolutionary laws which will enable us to prophesy the destiny of man.

Plato's claim to greatness is to have discovered such a law: that "all social change is corruption or decay or degeneration," and that the only way to break this cycle of decay is to arrest development and return to the Golden Age, where no change occurs. His belief in perfect and unchanging things, the Platonic Ideas from which all things originate, finds its expression in all fields of inquiry: be it social justice, nature and convention, wisdom and truth, or goodness and beauty.

Behind these lofty ideals, Popper uncovers a discomforting truth: Plato envisioned the ideal Greek polity as a totalitarian nightmare, where the 'race of the guardians' had to be kept pure from any miscegenation and where the role of the rulers was to breed the human cattle according to some esoteric formula (the 'Platonic Number', a number determining the True Period of the human race). Along his apology of Sparta came his endorsement of infanticide and his recommendation that children of both sexes be "brought within the sight of actual war and made to taste blood."

Popper demonstrates that these crazy ideas were not the vague mumblings of an otherwise sound philosopher: they were central tenets in Plato's philosophy, a system which has been characterized by another author as "the most savage and most profound attack upon liberal ideas which history can show."

Popper connects this extreme radicalism of the Platonic approach with its aestheticism, i.e. with "the desire to build a world which is not only a little better and more rational than ours, but which is free from all its ugliness." Plato, the Philosopher-King, can be best characterized as an artist: a man attracted to a world of pure beauty, a craftsman who tries to visualize an ideal model of his work and to copy it faithfully, and for whom "the part has to be executed for the sake of the whole, and not the whole for the sake of the part." His desire to "start from a clean canvas" or his claim to prefer "the original to the copy" find disturbing echoes in contemporary political debates. Contrary to Plato's belief, however, the canvas can never be made clean, and the copy often improves upon the original.

Let's give Popper the last word: "But there I must protest. I do not believe that human lives may be made the means for satisfying an artist's desire for self-expression. We must demand, rather, that every man should be given, if he wishes, the right to model his life himself, as far as this does not interfere too much with others. Much as I sympathize with the aesthetic impulse, I suggest that the artist might seek expression in another material."

Read the free excerpt - pg 7 Plato vs Pericles.......2006-03-10

Click on the book and keep clicking to page 7 - two quotes from Plato vs Pericles, which could have been written yesterday.
I may be moving and I'm busy, so no I have not read the book, but every now and then I reread that page 7 - how INSPIRING !

A DIFFERENT VIEW OF PLATO.......2005-10-30

I wish Popper were still alive because there are so FEW philosophers who can write so clearly.

Volume 1 of the Open Society is a critique of historicism and an analysis of how Plato's later thought supports totalitarianism, not democracy.

Popper presents a convincing argument about the danger of deifying philosophers of the past. He shows how some of the ideas of Plato are imbedded in our culture in ways that do not always support an Open Society, by which he means not only democracy but a society that is OPEN to learning from its mistakes and adapting to change.

If you are interested in political philosophy or the interaction of philosopy and society, this book is worth your time.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books