The publication in 1965 of "For Marx and Reading Capital "established Louis Althusser as one of the most original and controversial figures in the Western Marxist tradition; a thinker whose renewal of Marxism was to enjoy great influence over the next decade.
Collected here are Althusser's most significant philosophical writings from 1965 to 1978; the majority previously untranslated. Intended to contribute, in his own words, to a "left-wing critique of Stalinism that would help put some substance back into the revolutionary project here in the West," they are the record of a shared history. At the same time they chart Althusser's critique of the theoretical system unveiled in his own major works, and his developing practice of philosophy as a "revolutionary weapon."
The collection opens with two lucid early articles--"Theory, Theoretical Practice and Theoretical Formation" and "On Theoretical Work." The title piece--Althusser's celebrated lectures in the "Philosophy Course for Scientists"--is the fullest exploration of his new definition of philosophy as politics in the realm of theory; a conception which is further developed in "Lenin and Philosophy." "Is it Simple to be a Marxist in Philosophy?" provides an invaluable account of Althusser's intellectual development. The volume concludes with two little-known late pieces--"The Transformation of Philosophy," in which the paradoxical history of Marxist philosophy is investigated; and "Marxism Today," a sober balance-sheet of the Marxist tradition.
Attesting to the unique place which Althusser has occupied in modern intellectual history--between a tradition of Marxism which he sought to reconstruct, and a "post-Marxism" which has eclipsed its predecessor--these texts are indispensable reading.
- ISBN10 0860919560
- ISBN13 9780860919568
- Publish Date 14 December 1989
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 3 June 2017
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Verso Books
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 308
- Language English