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As is the case with all my work, nothing here should be read as an attack either on Historical Materialism [HM] -- a theory I fully accept -- or, indeed, revolutionary socialism. I remain as committed to the self-emancipation of the working class and the dictatorship of the proletariat as I was when I first became a revolutionary nearly thirty years ago.
The difference between Dialectical Materialism [DM] and HM, as I see it, is explained here.
Phrases like "ruling-class theory", "ruling-class view of reality", "ruling-class ideology" (etc.) used at this site (in connection with Philosophy and DM) aren't meant to imply that all or even most members of various ruling-classes actually invented these ways of thinking or of seeing the world (although some of them did -- for example, Heraclitus, Plato, Cicero and Marcus Aurelius). They are intended to highlight theories (or "ruling ideas") that are conducive to, or which rationalise the interests of the various ruling-classes history has inflicted on humanity, whoever invents them. Up until recently this dogmatic approach to knowledge had almost invariably been promoted by thinkers who either relied on ruling-class patronage, or who, in one capacity or another, helped run the system for the elite.
However, this will become the central topic of Parts Two and Three of Essay Twelve, when they are published; until then, readers are re-directed here, here, and here, for further explanation.
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Summary Of My Main Objections To DM
Abbreviations Used At This Site
On this page I aim to post other material -- some of which is available elsewhere on the Internet -- relevant to the aims of this site.
I am publishing here eleven of Guy Robinson's Essays. Several of them had until recently been posted at Guy's site, which no longer exists. In my opinion, Guy is one of the few Marxist Philosophers whose work is genuinely worth studying. Indeed, I'd go much further: I cannot praise his book, Philosophy and Mystification (Fordham University Press, 2003), too highly; it seems to me that this is how Marxist Philosophy should be done.
[A PDF of Guy's book is available to download from here.]
I only encountered Guy's work in 2005, but I soon saw that he had anticipated several of my own ideas -- except he manages to express in two paragraphs what it takes me several pages to say! Unlike the vast bulk of material that claims to be Marxist (especially the work of academic Marxists), Guy's work is a model of clarity. It is no accident, therefore, to discover that Guy was a Marxist working in the Wittgensteinian tradition.
[Many on the left think Wittgenstein was a conservative mystic. I have comprehensively refuted that idea here. Moreover, Guy's work alone is testimony to the fact that Wittgenstein's work harmonises with and helps amplify Historical Materialism.]
Sadly, Guy passed away in October 2011.
These essays have been published with the permission of his son, but no one should assume that Guy would have agreed with any of the views expressed at this site -- other than those already outlined in his essays. Nor should anyone assume that I agree with everything Guy says -- especially about 'dialectics'.
I have re-formatted these essays to agree with the conventions adopted at this site; spelling has been altered to conform with UK English. In addition, I have corrected a few minor typos and added several links.
Essay One: Making Materialism Historical
Essay Two: Introduction To 'Philosophy Demystified'
Essay Three: The Concept Of Nature, Its Mystification And Demystification
Essay Four: On Misunderstanding Science
Essay Five: Historical And Ahistorical Views Of The World
Essay Six: Forms Of Life And The Construction Of Reality
Essay Seven: The Material And The External
Essay Eight: Creating Creativity
Essay Nine: Purpose And Purposiveness
Essay Ten: Newton, Marx And Wittgenstein
Essay Eleven: Philosophy In The Service Of History
Essays Three, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven comprise Chapters Two, One, Three, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight respectively, of Guy's unpublished book, Philosophy and Demystification; Essay Two is the Introduction to that book. Essay Four is from Guy's first book, Philosophy and Mystification.
The reason for the odd ordering of the above chapters is that Guy sent two of them to me several years before I had access to the rest of his unpublished work.
I have asked Guy's son to send me any more of his father's unpublished material in his possession for me to post here.
[2] Hegel And The Hermetic Tradition, by Glen Magee
This book was published by Cornell University Press in 2001 (re-issued in paperback, 2008); here I reproduce the Introduction to this work, copied from the Marxist Internet Archive. The thesis of Magee's book is central to the aims of Essay Fourteen Parts One and Two (summary here), where I show that dialecticians have imported into Marxism a set of ancient, mystical, Hermetic and Neoplatonic concepts, many of which thought-forms can also be found in the work of countless ruling-class theorists, right across the globe, in all known class dominated societies.
[3] The Hegel Legend, by Gustav Müller
This article was written over 50 years ago, and debunks a hoary old myth that Hegel's method can be summed-up by the trite formula: 'Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis'. I am posting it here, not to rescue Hegel from his dialectical groupies, but to underline the fact that many of the latter can't even get Hegel right!
[4] Anti-Dialectical Dialogues
Dialogue No 1: The Transformation Of Quantity Into Quality
This is an entertaining dialogue written by my friend and ally 'Babeuf', which shows just how useless Dialectical Materialism is if anyone actually tried to employ it in the class struggle. [Posted 08/02/07.]
[5] Part Six Of Nigel Harris's Mandate Of Heaven
I have included this in order to help substantiate some of the things I allege in Essay Nine Part Two. [I must however distance myself from Nigel's philosophical remarks.]
Taken from here.
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