Description
Book SynopsisThis book introduces the English-speaking reader to the thought of Stanislaw Brzozowski (1878-1911), the outstanding Polish philosopher and literary critic. Although practically unknown in the West, Brzozowski is an important but neglected forerunner of the intellectual tradition of `Western Marxism'', most commonly associated with Georg Lukács and Antonio Gramsci.Concentrating first on the early phase of Brzozowski''s thought, Professor Walicki goes on to analyse his ideas on the working class and its relation to the intelligentsia and contemporary working-class ideologies. Finally he deals with aspects of his thought which go beyond the Marxian problematic and round off the intellectual portrait of the man.Brzozowski''s anti-naturalistic approach resulted in a radical reinterpretation of Marxism which dealt with many of the problems of the revolt against positivism in European philosophy. Professor Walicki argues that the retrieval of the philosophical and humanist aspect of Marxism,
Table of ContentsBiographical note; On some specific features of early Polish Marxism; `Scientific Marxism' and `Philosophy of action': The early phase of Brzozowski's thought; The critique of `Scientific Marxism'; Idealism as philosophy of action; The first outline of a new interpretation of Marxism; Marxism as an Anti-Engelsian `Philosophy of Labour': Knowledge, nature, and history; The ideal of autocreation; The encounter with the Russian `Neo-Marxists'; Beyond marxism: From anti-Engelsian Marxism to a re-evaluation of Marx's thought: New inspirations and confrontations; The further development of Brzozowski's `Philosophy of Labour'; Continuity and change in Brzozowski's thought; The intelligentsia and the working class: Different conceptions of the intelligentsia and its calling; The intelligentsia and revolution; The paradoxes of the intelligentsia; The working class, socialism, and syndicalism; The working class and the nation; Culture and Society: Individualism and sociologism; The social tasks of art and literary criticism; Sociological criticism and the critique of sociology; The illusion of consciousness; National cultures; Religion: From religious individualism to militant atheism; The greatness and weakness of Catholicism; Towards transcendence; Instead of a conclusion; Brzozowski's works
