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''Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence'' is a 1978 book by the philosopher G. A. Cohen, the culmination of his attempts to reformulate
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
's doctrines of alienation,
exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...
, and
historical materialism Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
. Cohen, who interprets
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
as a scientific theory of history, applies the techniques of
analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...
to the elucidation and defence of Marx's materialist conception of history. The work for which Cohen is best known, ''Karl Marx's Theory of History'' helped to establish
analytical Marxism Analytical Marxism is an approach to Marxist theory that was prominent amongst English-speaking philosophers and social scientists during the 1980s. Described by G. A. Cohen as "non-bullshit Marxism", members of this school seek to apply the ...
and was awarded the Isaac Deutscher memorial prize. Cohen's interpretation of Marx runs counter to most forms of twentieth-century Marxism, and has been criticised as a form of
technological determinism Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. The term is ...
.


Summary

Cohen maintains that the technological determinism of Marx's summary of his science of history in the preface to ''
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy ''A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy'' (german: Zur Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie) is a book by Karl Marx, first published in 1859. The book is mainly a critique of political economy achieved by critiquing the writings of the ...
'' defines his real views on the subject, a view with which other scholars have disagreed. He defends technological determinism by arguing for two theses, which he calls the "development thesis" and the "primacy thesis." The development thesis rests upon three presuppositions: that human beings are "somewhat rational", that their historical situation is one of scarcity, and that they "possess intelligence of a kind and degree which enables them to improve their situation." The existence of scarcity ensures a struggle for survival, the existence of intelligence ensures that scarcity-reducing innovations will occur, and the existence of rationality ensures that there will be a tendency to adopt them. Cohen seeks to establish the primacy thesis by arguing that different relations of production have differential capabilities for generating growth in the productive forces at different stages of development. Cohen proposes that explanation in Marx’s theory is functional, by which he means roughly that the character of what is explained is determined by its effect on what explains it, so that "production relations profoundly affect productive forces, and superstructures strongly condition foundations." Functional explanation provides a way of recognizing the vital influence of the legal-political superstructure on the economic structure, while still assigning explanatory primacy to the latter. Thus the superstructure stabilizes its economic base, but in the other direction the economic relations determine the character of the superstructure, so that in this sense the economic base is primary and the superstructure secondary. It is precisely because the superstructure strongly affects the base that the base selects that superstructure. The relation between forces and relations of production is also explained functionally: the level of development of society’s productive forces (i.e., society’s technological powers, including tools, machinery, raw materials, and labour power) determines society’s economic structure, in the sense that it selects a structure of economic relations that tends best to facilitate further technological growth. As Charles Taylor puts it, "These two directions of influence are so far from being rivals that they are actually complementary. The functional explanation requires that the secondary factor tend to have a causal effect on the primary, for this dispositional fact is the key feature of the explanation."


Influence and scholarly evaluation

''Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence'' helped establish
analytical Marxism Analytical Marxism is an approach to Marxist theory that was prominent amongst English-speaking philosophers and social scientists during the 1980s. Described by G. A. Cohen as "non-bullshit Marxism", members of this school seek to apply the ...
as a school of thought, and came to be seen as a classic. The book was praised by the historian G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, and was also commended by the political scientist David McLellan. According to the philosopher
Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...
, Cohen, in contrast to some more Hegelian interpretations of Marx's thought, "argues brilliantly for a more old-fashioned interpretation of Marxism as a scientific theory of history, an interpretation often known – disparagingly – as '
technological determinism Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. The term is ...
'." The political theorist
Norman Geras Norman Geras (; 25 August 1943 – 18 October 2013) was a political theorist and Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Manchester. He contributed to an analysis of the works of Karl Marx in his book '' Marx and Human Nature'' and the ...
described ''Karl Marx's Theory of History'' as the leading philosophical discussion of the way in which the character of human beings in any setting depends upon the nature of the prevailing social relations. The philosopher
Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 t ...
, though finding Cohen's attempt to present historical materialism as a scientific hypothesis impressive, observes that it shows how difficult it is to develop the necessary concepts. M. C. Howard and J. E. King note that Cohen's ideas have played no role in the debate on underdevelopment. They find this surprising, given their relevance to it. They believe that Cohen's analysis is of higher quality than that of the main protagonists in the debate, reinforcing their critical view of the work of
Paul Baran Paul Baran (born Pesach Baran ; April 29, 1926 – March 26, 2011) was a Polish-American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of computer networks. He was one of the two independent inventors of packet switching, which is today the dom ...
,
Andre Gunder Frank Andre Gunder Frank (February 24, 1929 – April 25, 2005) was a German-American sociologist and economic historian who promoted dependency theory after 1970 and world-systems theory after 1984. He employed some Marxian concepts on political ...
, and
Immanuel Wallerstein Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (; September 28, 1930 – August 31, 2019) was an American sociologist and economic historian. He is perhaps best known for his development of the general approach in sociology which led to the emergence of his worl ...
. The critic
Terry Eagleton Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February 1943) is an English literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University. Eagleton has published over forty books, ...
, who understands Cohen to be espousing a determinist theory in which productive forces automatically produce certain social relations, finds ''Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence'' to be a skillful defense of a "wrongheaded" idea. Nicolas Vrousalis summarizes the criticisms against Cohen's determinism, and concludes that technological materialism requires a sharp distinction between material and social properties, which Cohen's theory does not provide. The productive forces therefore cannot be distinguished from the relations of production in the way that technological determinism requires.


See also

* '' Karl Marx: His Life and Environment''


References


External Links

*
Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence
' as available for loan (free with registration) at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence 1978 non-fiction books Books about Karl Marx Books by G. A. Cohen Communist books English-language books Marxist books Princeton University Press books