Recent Interpretations of Karl Marx's Social Theory
An Essay on Habermas, Cohen and Elster
Richard Ruey-Chyi Hwang (Author)
Peter Lang (Publisher)
Publication Year: 2006
About the Book
This book seeks, on the one hand, to examine Habermas’ work on the reconstruction of historical materialism and Cohen’s and Elster’s analyses of the topic; on the other, to compare, contrast, and criticize their work. They respond to the political and theoretical crises of contemporary Marxism. Habermas’ response is to overcome economism and to stress normative structure and communication; Cohen’s reaction is to go back to the orthodoxy of Marxism with analytical philosophy; and Elster reacts by re-analyzing Marxian basic concepts with the analytical tools of the modern social sciences. In short, they all acknowledge the continual relevance of Marxism, but also state that Marxism in general, or historical materialism in particular, needs revision in various ways.
About the Author
Richard Ruey-Chyi Hwang received his BA and M.A. degrees in sociology from National Taiwan University, and a Ph.D. from King’s College, University of Cambridge. He is currently a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica (Taiwan).
For more information, please find the following linked websites: Peter Lang, amazon.com and AbeBooks.
