Acknowledgements
When I am asked when I began my project on Marx, I typically answer when I was a toddler! At that age Kaveh was taken to demonstrations against the Shah in Masjed Soleiman, during the last days of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Consequently, the question arises as to how I can thank all those who have, in one way or another, played roles in the development of this lifetime project, which does not stop here. The answer is straightforward: I can’t! The safest way would probably be to alphabetically list some names, as far as I can think of them – this remains, undoubtedly, a non-exhaustive list.
Professor Yves-Marie Abraham let me audit his seminar on Degrowth (Décroissance) in autumn 2016, and hence put me in touch with problems on the ground relating to current capitalist society and possible practical and immediate actions.
Professor Andreas Arndt permitted me to participate in his two seminars on Hegel at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in 2014–15, which deepened my knowledge of Hegel, and gave me this opportunity to discuss my project with him. He also commented on an earlier version of the Chapter on the relationship between the Grundrisse and Capital, during the conference ‘Materialistische Dialektik: Marx Lektüren im Dialog’, organised in Freie Universität in Berlin in October 2015.
Professor Joseph Berkovitz very patiently and kindly helped me to improve my first papers on philosophy of science in general and philosophy of economics in particular.
Professor Andy Blunden gave me the opportunity to discuss the basic thoughts leading to this project, particularly in Marxist epistemology – since 1990! As a dear colleague in the Marxists Internet Archives (MIA), of which Andy is the secretary, he has always been a source of inspiration and exemplar of assiduousness and solidarity.
Martina Chumova kindly and patiently checked all the terms in the Czech language in the Chapter ‘On Kosík’s Totality’ and corrected mistakes and typos as I finalised this text.
Professor Di Giovanni kindly elaborated on some complexities in Hegel’s methodology.
The late Professor Mahmoud Ebadian, with whom I took the first serious steps of dialectical thought, encouraged me in my translations and made me familiar with the texts of Hegel and Marx in their original language. His encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient Iranian and European languages, on the one hand, and his deep knowledge of European philosophy, on the other, also helped me to broaden and deepen my intellectual competence. He also let me discuss with him, on numerous occasions, his own translations, particularly of Karel Kosík and Hegel.
My comrade Danny Hayward, the editorial co-ordinator of the Historical Materialism Series in Brill, meticulously read the whole text and asked for clarifications when necessary. His contribution became more meaningful when I heard later that he was doing all this during the period that his partner and our dear comrade Marina Vishmidt was in a terminal stage of a long illness. Along with Danny, I would also like to thank all my colleagues of the HM Series and also Brill.
Professor Stephen Houlgate patiently clarified some technical points of the Hegel-Marx relationship regarding method.
Professor Martin Jay insightfully elaborated on the complexities of totality from a Marxian standpoint as they pertain to contemporary capitalism.
Professor Ivan Landa has clarified several points regarding Kosík’s terminology and also read the relevant chapter of the current book, assisting me with my references to the Czech.
Professor Karim Mojtahedi generously permitted me, more than once, to participate in his seminar on Hegel held at University of Tehran during the years 1997–99.
Since 2000, Doctor Khosrow Parsa has helped me to familiarise myself with the scientific discussions in general and the relationship between evolution and Marxism in particular from a materialist point of view.
Professor Milan Prucha, Professor Emeritus at the Freie Universität Berlin, was of great help not only in clarifying different passages in Kosík’s book Dialektika Konkrétního, by elaborating on the nuances of the original text in Czech, but also in discussing the relationship between Hegelian and Marxist dialectics.
Professor Paul Sabourin, whom I have known since 2012, discussed my monograph on many different occasions since its germinal stage.
Professor Tony Smith kindly read and commented on a paper related to this monograph. One of the most well-known figures in debates concerning Marx’s methodology, he has exerted an invaluable influence on my project – one that goes beyond the present text.
The late Professor Abolghasem Zakerzadeh kindly permitted me to participate in his seminars on Hegel and Kant at the University of Shahid Beheshti in Tehran in 1998–99.
Michael Zibell not only read and edited a shorter version of Chapter 6 of this monograph, published in the proceedings of the abovementioned conference in Berlin, but also, with his decades of profound engagement in philosophy and theology in general and German philosophy in particular, enhanced my philosophical thought.
I also need to thank my comrades in the union of the lecturers at our university (Syndicat des chargées et chargés de cours de l’Université de Montréal – SCCCUM), and also Northcliffe Educational Foundation for their inestimable support.
To four persons, however, I am particularly indebted:
The first is my supervisor, the late Professor Yvon Gauthier. If Professor Gauthier had not accepted the supervision of an earlier version of this work in the second year of my PhD in 2013, I cannot just envisage how I could have accomplished this project. His profound knowledge of Hegel’s philosophy, on the one hand, and his gigantic mastery of analytic philosophy and philosophy of science, on the other, invigorated this work even before he accepted me as a PhD candidate.
Professor Frieder Otto Wolf, whom I first met at a conference on Althusser and Benjamin in Potsdam in 2011, paved my way for a scholarship at Freie Universität Berlin in 2014–15, where I had the opportunity to discuss my project step by step and regularly, participating in his own courses and seminars as well as those of many others in Berlin.
Professor Marianne Kempeneers accepted me as her teaching assistant and gave me the opportunity to be exposed directly to the students of sociology in her course Marx et Marxismes in the department of sociology at Université de Montréal. In my lifetime as an elderly student, enrolled in six universities in four languages, and exposed to an extensive number of Marxist scholars in several countries in the world, I have never seen anyone with the ability of Professor Kempeneers to expound sophisticated concepts in Marxist thought with such enviable lucidity; this remains an ever-unachievable goal for me. In the following year, 2016, she also supported my candidacy to teach the same course. Teaching this course and being challenged by the earnest students who participated in it helped to concretise my somewhat remote theoretical and abstract discussions on Marx’s methodology and connect it to social contexts.
Niloo, my comrade-partner, supported me with all the means possible during this project and before. I cannot imagine how one can be simultaneously a comrade and a muse: Niloo is! Without her support, particularly with my poor health, which has been affected by both chronic and acute diseases, the current monograph could not have been accomplished. During this period, she has also been the guardian who made me concentrate notwithstanding all my weaknesses, who made me proceed faster when I was unnecessarily slow, and more slowly when I was too fast! This is even more meaningful once I mention she has done all this with her master’s and PhD project waiting to be accomplished! If this monograph is to be thought of like a child, then it represents a shared delivery, with all the pangs and pains divided between Niloo and me.
This monograph is dedicated to Danny Goldstick, the source of both theoretical and practical inspiration.
It is needless to add that notwithstanding all the support I had, the shortcomings of this work are uniquely mine.