Karel Kosík and the Dialectics of the Concrete

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Karel Kosík (1926–2003) was one of the most remarkable Czech Marxist philosophers of the twentieth century. His reputation as a creative thinker is owed largely to his philosophical ‘blockbuster’ Dialectics of the Concrete, first published in Czechoslovakia in 1963. In reintroducing Kosík’s philosophy to English-speaking readers, we show that Kosík’s work is important not only as a leading intellectual document of the Prague Spring, but also as an original theoretical contribution with international impact that sheds light on the meaning of labour and praxis, cognition and economic structure, and revolution and the crises of modernity.

Contributors include: Ian Angus, Siyaves Azeri, Vít Bartoš, Jan Černý, Joseph Grim Feinberg, Diana Fuentes, Gabriella Fusi, Tomáš Hermann, Tomáš Hříbek, Xiaohan Huang, Peter Hudis, Petr Kužel, Ivan Landa, Michael Löwy, Jan Mervart, Anselm K. Min, Tom Rockmore, Francesco Tava, and Xinruo Zhang.
Copyright Year:
2022
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-50324-3
Publication:
06 Dec 2021
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Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-32536-4
Publication:
09 Dec 2021
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Front Matter
Preliminary Material
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Notes on Authors
Introduction
Part 1 The Reform Years and the Origins of Dialectics of the Concrete
Chapter 1 Karel Kosík as a Public Intellectual of the Reform Years
Chapter 2 Karel Kosík and His ‘Radical Democrats’: The Janus Face of Dialectics of the Concrete
Part 2 Praxis and Labour
Chapter 3 Praxis in Progress: On the Transformations of Kosík’s Thought
Chapter 4 Labour and Time: Karel Kosík’s Temporal Materialism
Chapter 5 Inception of Culture from the Ontology of Labour: The Original Contribution of Karel Kosík to a Marxian Theory of Culture
Chapter 6 ‘The Philosophy of Labour’ and Karel Kosík’s Criticism of ‘Care’
Chapter 7 Kosík, Lukács and the Thing in Itself
Part 3 Modernity, Nation, and Globalisation
Chapter 8 The Ontological Dialectic and the Critique of Modernity: Based on the Interpretation of Kosík’s Concrete Totality
Chapter 9 And the ‘Thing Itself’ Is Man: Radical Democracy and the Roots of Humanity
Chapter 10 The Dialectic of Concrete Totality in the Age of Globalisation: Karel Kosík’s Dialectics of the Concrete Fifty Years Later
Part 4 Intellectual Encounters
Chapter 11 Kosík’s Notion of ‘Positivism’
Chapter 12 Kosík’s Concept of ‘Concrete Totality’: A Structuralist Critique
Chapter 13 The World of the Pseudoconcrete, Ideology and the Theory of the Subject (Kosík and Althusser)
Chapter 14 Karel Kosík and Martin Heidegger: From Marxism to Traditionalism
Part 5 Influence and Reception
Chapter 15 A Route of Critical Thought: Between Italian and Czech Intellectuals
Chapter 16 Karel Kosík in Mexico: Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and Dialectics of the Concrete
Chapter 17 Karel Kosík and US Marxist Humanism
Postscript: Looking Backwards
Chapter 18 Spirit of Resistance: Notes for an Intellectual Biography of Karel Kosík
Back Matter
References
Index
Joseph Grim Feinberg, PhD (2014), University of Chicago, is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of Czech Academy of Sciences. He is author of The Paradox of Authenticity (University of Wisconsin, 2018) and editor of Contradictions: A Journal for Critical Thought.
Ivan Landa, PhD (2010), Charles University, is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has published articles and chapters on Hegel and the history of Marxism. He is a co-editor of the Collected Works of Karel Kosík (Filosofia, 2019–), planned for 7 volumes (in Czech). Jan Mervart, PhD (2009), University of Hradec Králové, is researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has published monographs and articles on the intellectual history of Czechoslovakia. He is the co-editor of Czechoslovakism (Routledge, 2021).
"As the collection shows in impressive depth, Kosík’s legacy, beyond his involvement in the Prague Spring, is truly philosophical, offering up several powerful concepts to contemporary Marxism, from labour and praxis to laughter and joy. As such, this handbook is already a classic, as an excellent introduction to both Kosík and Czech Marxism in a global context." — Isabel Jacobs, in: Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, September 2022
"Kosík’s international popularity among philosophers, artists, and writers after Dialectics of the Concrete was published in 1963 did not in any way lead to his philosophy being 'still fruitfully interpreted or further developed' [...]. His philosophy 'is “well known” as a historical document, but it is overlooked and ignored as a living contribution to social thought' [...]. The anthology can be considered a successful attempt to put an end to this inappropriate situation in Kosík’s case and save him from oblivion [...]. The editors have succeeded in compiling contributions that both explore the historical context and examine Kosík’s ideas for their current relevance." — Martin Küpper, in: Studies in East European Thought, 2023, Vol. 75, pp. 479-482.
IAcknowledgements
Notes on Authors

Introduction
 Joseph Grim Feinberg, Ivan Landa, Jan Mervart

Part 1 The Reform Years and the Origins of Dialectics of the Concrete



1 Karel Kosík as a Public Intellectual of the Reform Years
 Jan Mervart

2 Karel Kosík and His ‘Radical Democrats’: The Janus Face of Dialectics of the Concrete
Moving from a Historical to a Systematic Approach to Philosophy
 Tomáš Hermann

Part 2 Praxis and Labour



3 Praxis in Progress: On the Transformations of Kosík’s Thought
 Francesco Tava

4 Labour and Time: Karel Kosík’s Temporal Materialism
 Ivan Landa

5 Inception of Culture from the Ontology of Labour: The Original Contribution of Karel Kosík to a Marxian Theory of Culture
 Ian Angus

6 ‘The Philosophy of Labour’ and Karel Kosík’s Criticism of ‘Care’
 Siyaves Azeri

7 Kosík, Lukács and the Thing in Itself
 Tom Rockmore

Part 3 Modernity, Nation, and Globalisation



8 The Ontological Dialectic and the Critique of Modernity: Based on the Interpretation of Kosík’s Concrete Totality
 Xinruo Zhang and Xiaohan Huang

9 And the ‘Thing Itself’ Is Man: Radical Democracy and the Roots of Humanity
 Joseph Grim Feinberg

10 The Dialectic of Concrete Totality in the Age of Globalisation: Karel Kosík’s Dialectics of the Concrete Fifty Years Later
 Anselm K. Min

Part 4 Intellectual Encounters



11 Kosík’s Notion of ‘Positivism’
 Tomáš Hříbek

12 Kosík’s Concept of ‘Concrete Totality’: A Structuralist Critique
 Vít Bartoš

13 The World of the Pseudoconcrete, Ideology and the Theory of the Subject (Kosík and Althusser)
 Petr Kužel

14 Karel Kosík and Martin Heidegger: From Marxism to Traditionalism
 Jan Černý

Part 5 Influence and Reception



15 A Route of Critical Thought: Between Italian and Czech Intellectuals
 Gabriella Fusi

16 Karel Kosík in Mexico: Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and the Dialectics of the Concrete
 Diana Fuentes

17 Karel Kosík and US Marxist Humanism
 Peter Hudis

Postscript: Looking Backwards



18 Spirit of Resistance: Note for an Intellectual Biography of Karel Kosík
 Michael Löwy

References
Index
This volume is aimed at specialists in the intellectual history and politics of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as all scholars and students interested in critical philosophy.
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