The Marxist Philosophy of History

The Marxist Philosophy of HistoryDr. Kristen EppsColorado State UniversityPuebloHIST300: Historiography

+What is Historical Theory?Closely tied to literary theory and also philosophy, but with different goals in mindvery interdisciplinaryHistorical theories are compelling, but unproven, ideas and principles that help explain the past by looking at the big picture; in more technical terms, it is an interpretive framework or metanarrative, a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge and experience1 It involves close reading of primary sources, application of a theoretical model to test a historical event/person, and usage of very precise vocabulary

+1. John Stephens and Robyn McCallum, Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional Story and Metanarratives in Children's Literature (New York: Routledge, 1998), 6.

2How Do I Recognize a Historical Theory?This interest in interdisciplinarity only comes in the mid-twentieth centurySome topics will lend themselves to a more theoretical approach (e.g., gender studies, labor history, cultural studies, etc.)BUT, some historians are averse to theory, so dont assume that there is a theoretical framework in every textIt is usually associated with a school of thought (e.g., postcolonialism, postmodernism, etc.), or with the theorist who developed it (e.g., Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, etc.)Look for name dropping in the text or citations (see next slide) and also usage of specific terminology and concepts

+3Some Well-Known ExamplesPostcolonialism (most commonly found in Caribbean, Asian and African studies):http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/introduction/Postmodernism:http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.htmlAntonio Gramsci (neo-Marxism):http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htmFrederic Jameson (neo-Marxism): http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/kell19.htm Jurgen Habermas (the public sphere):http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/Clifford Geertz (culture and anthropology): http://www.scribd.com/doc/48136604/A-Short-Review-on-Cultural-Theory-of-Clifford-Geertz Judith Butler (gender, sexuality, and the body): http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-butl.htmMichel Foucault (poststructuralism, the body, sexuality, power, etc.): for basic terms/definitions, http://www.michel-foucault.com/concepts/index.html, and for a more detailed outline, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/ This website includes a very complete bibliography, with annotations at the end of some books that provide basic descriptions of theorists (mixed within a bunch of "regular" historians, so it is not ideal for browsing): http://www.amst.umd.edu/Research/cultland/index.html+4

Karl Marx

Nineteenth-century Political Theorist and Revolutionary

+

Georg Hegel

Nineteenth-century Philosopher and Historian

+Key Terms from Hegelian TheoryZeitgeistthe spirit of the ages

+Key Terms from Hegelian TheoryZeitgeistthe spirit of the ages

Determinism

+Key Terms from Hegelian TheoryZeitgeistthe spirit of the ages

Determinism

DialecticThesis Antithesis Synthesis+Western Europe in 1815

+http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html

10Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, 1844The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion to the devaluation of the world of men. Labor produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the worker as a commodityand does so in the proportion in which it produces commodities generally.+

Friedrich Engels

Nineteenth-century Philosopher and Marxs Ideological Partner

+

Marx Monument in London Cemetery

+