The Destruction of Reason

(Paperback)

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A classic of Western Marxism, The Destruction of Reason is Georg Lukcs's trenchant criticism of German philosophy after Marx and the role it played in the rise of National Socialism. Originally published in 1952, the book is a sustained and detailed polemic against post-Hegelian German philosophy and sociology from Kierkegaard to Heidegger. The Destruction of Reason is unsparing in its contention that with almost no exceptions, the post-Hegelian tradition prepared the ground fascist thought. In this, the main culprits are Friedrich Nietzsche and Martn Heidegger who are accused, in turn, of introducing irrationalism into social and philosophical thought, pronounced antagonism to the idea of progress in history, an aristocratic view of the masses, and, consequently, hostility to socialism, which in its classic expressions are movements for popular democracyespecially, but not exclusively, the expropriation of most private property in terms of material production. The Destruction of Reason remains one of Lukcs's most controversial, albeit little read, books. This new edition, featuring an historical introduction by Peter E. Gordon, will finally see this classic come back in to print.

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[Lukacs possessed] a very specific and important kind of mind, raised to an extraordinary degree of interest by its quite exceptional ability. -- Raymond Williams

Author Bio

Georg Lukcs (1885-1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. Most scholars consider him to be the founder of the tradition of Western Marxism.