Critique, Emancipation, Ideology: Marxian Logic of Social Criticism
Critique, Emancipation, Ideology: Marxian Logic of Social Criticism

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is an analysis of Karl Marx’s account of social criticism. The paper opens with a distinction between two models of social criticism, Platonic and Socratic, present in the contemporary political philosophy. The main argument is that despite the contradictory char-acter of the two models of criticism, they are both present in Marx’s account of criticism. Through the concept of emancipation the idea of criticism in Marx is oriented to practice, which leads to the Socratic model of critique. However, through the concept of ideology, especially in the Althusserian account, the Marxian idea of critique shows a strong relation to the Platonic model. The paper concludes that the presence of both contradictory elements, those of internal and exter-nal critique, in the Marxian idea of criticism is not a contingent effect of the development of his thought, but a necessary condition of every kind of criticism.

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