Karl Kosík and the dialectics of the concrete / / edited by Joseph Grim Feinberg, Ivan Landa, Jan Mervart.

• Superior document: Historical materialism book series ; Volume 243
• TeilnehmendeR: Feinberg, Joseph Grim,; Landa, Ivan (Philosopher),; Mervart, Jan,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Historical materialism book series ; Volume 243.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xvi, 394 pages)

Karel Kosík (1926-2003) was one of the most remarkable Czech Marxist philosophers of the twentieth century. His reputation as a creative thinker is owed largely to his philosophical 'blockbuster' Dialectics of the Concrete , first published in Czechoslovakia in 1963. In reintroducing Kosík's philosophy to English-speaking readers, we show that Kosík's work is important not only as a leading intellectual document of the Prague Spring, but also as an original theoretical contribution with international impact that sheds light on the meaning of labour and praxis, democracy and economic structure, dialectics and the crises of modernity. Contributors include: Ian Angus, Siyaves Azeri, Vít Bartoš, Jan Černý, Joseph Grim Feinberg, Diana Fuentes, Gabriella Fusi, Tomáš Hermann, Tomáš Hříbek, Xiaohan Huang, Peter Hudis, Petr Kužel, Ivan Landa, Michael Löwy, Jan Mervart, Anselm K. Min, Tom Rockmore, Francesco Tava, and Xinruo Zhang.

Table of Contents

Introduction -- Joseph Grim Feinberg, Ivan Landa, Jan Mervart -- Part One -- The Reform Years and the Origins of Dialectics of the Concrete -- Karel Kosík as a Public Intellectual of the Reform Years -- Jan Mervart -- Karel Kosík and His 'Radical Democrats': The Janus Face of Dialectics of the Concrete. Moving from a Historical to a Systematic Approach to Philosophy -- Tomáš Hermann -- Part Two -- Praxis and Labour -- Praxis in Progress: On the Transformations of Kosík's Thought -- Francesco Tava -- Labour and Time. Karel Kosík's Temporal Materialism -- Ivan Landa -- Inception of Culture from the Ontology of Labour: The Original Contribution of Karel Kosík to a Marxian Theory of Culture -- Ian Angus -- 'The Philosophy of Labour' and Karel Kosík's Criticism of 'Care' -- Siyaves Azeri -- Kosík, Lukács and the Thing in Itself -- Tom Rockmore -- Part Three -- Modernity, Nation, and Globalisation -- The Ontological Dialectic and the Critique of Modernity: Based on the Interpretation of Kosík's Concrete Totality -- Xinruo Zhang and Xiaohan Huang -- And the 'Thing Itself' is Man: Radical Democracy and the Roots of Humanity -- Joseph Grim Feinberg -- The Dialectic of Concrete Totality in the Age of Globalisation: Karel Kosík's Dialectics of the Concrete Fifty Years Later -- Anselm K. Min -- Part Four -- Intellectual Encounters -- Kosík's Notion of 'Positivism' -- Tomáš Hříbek -- Kosík's Concept of 'Concrete Totality': A Structuralist Critique -- Vít Bartoš -- The World of the Pseudoconcrete, Ideology and the Theory of the Subject (Kosík and Althusser) -- Petr Kužel -- Karel Kosík and Martin Heidegger: From Marxism to Traditionalism -- Jan Černý -- Part Five -- Influence and Reception -- A Route of Critical Thought: Between Italian and Czech Intellectuals -- Gabriella Fusi -- Karel Kosík in Mexico: Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and the Dialectics of the Concrete -- Diana Fuentes -- Karel Kosík and US Marxist Humanism -- Peter Hudis -- Postscript: Looking Backwards -- Spirit of Resistance: Note for an Intellectual Biography of Karel Kosík -- Michael Löwy -- References -- Index .