Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason (Why Marx Rejected Politics and the Market)

Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason (Why Marx Rejected Politics and the Market) by Megill, Allan. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780742511668.

Why did Karl Marx want to exclude politics and the market from his vision of a future socialism? In Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason, Allan Megill begins with this question. Megills examination of Marxs formative writings casts new light on Marxs relation to philosophy and reveals a hitherto largely unknown rationalist Marx. In demonstrating how Marxs rationalism permeated his attempts to understand politics, economics, and history generally, Megill forces the reader to rethink Marxs entire intellectual project. While Megill writes as an intellectual historian and historian of philosophy, his highly original redescription of the Marxian enterprise has important implications for how we think about the usability of Marxs work today. Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason will be of interest to those who wish to reflect on the fate of Marxism during the era of Soviet Communism. It will also be of interest to those who wish to discern what is living and what is dead, what is adequate and what requires replacement or supplementation, in the work of a figure who, in spite of everything, remains one of the greatest philosophers and social scientists of the modern world.