The Marxist Philosophy of History

1. The Marxist Philosophy of History Dr. Kristen Epps Colorado State University—Pueblo HIST300: Historiography

2. What is Historical Theory? • Closely tied to literary theory and also philosophy, but with different goals in mind—very interdisciplinary • Historical 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 experience”1 • It involves “close reading” of primary sources, application of a theoretical model to “test” a historical event/person, and usage of very precise vocabulary

3. How Do I Recognize a Historical Theory? • This interest in interdisciplinarity only comes in the mid-twentieth century • Some 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 don’t assume that there is a theoretical framework in every text • It 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

4. Some Well-Known Examples 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 Postcolonialism (most commonly found in Caribbean, Asian and African studies): http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/introduction/ Postmodernism: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html Antonio Gramsci (neo-Marxism):http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htm Frederic Jameson (neo-Marxism): http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/kell19.htm JurgenHabermas (“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.htm Michel 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/

5. Karl MarxNineteenth-century Political Theorist and Revolutionary

6. Georg HegelNineteenth-century Philosopher and Historian

7. Key Terms from Hegelian Theory • Zeitgeist—”the spirit of the ages”

8. Key Terms from Hegelian Theory • Zeitgeist—”the spirit of the ages” • Determinism

9. Key Terms from Hegelian Theory • Zeitgeist—”the spirit of the ages” • Determinism • Dialectic • Thesis  Antithesis  Synthesis

10. Western Europe in 1815

11. Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, 1844 “The 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 commodity—and does so in the proportion in which it produces commodities generally.”

12. Friedrich EngelsNineteenth-century Philosopher and Marx’s Ideological Partner

13. Marx Monument in London Cemetery