Analytical Marxism: A Critique

by Marcus Roberts (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  1996

  $32.25

  In the 1980s, leading philosophers at Oxford, Chicago and UCLA undertook a controversial reassessment of Marxism using the techniques of analytical philosophy. The aim of these so-called no-bullshit Marxists was no less than the complete reconstruction of Marxist theory, recasting it on a logical and rigorous basis, free from all jargon and sentimentality. This study serves as a survey of the analytical Marxists' contributions to the understanding of historical materialism, exploitation, class structure, method, politics and ethics - which Marcus Roberts brings right up to date with some considerations on John Roemer's recent work on models of socialism. Roberts charts the sinuous progress of the growth, development and ultimate dilution or breakdown of the bold theses originally put forward by such figures as Gerry Cohen, Jon Elster and John Roemer. For Roberts, the Analytical Marxist project, for all its elegance and richness, failed on its own terms. Nevertheless, as this book demonstrates, along its winding route, the project raised questions of fundamental importance for social and political theory - questions that anyone interested in emancipation cannot avoid taking seriously.