Karl Marx and Prophetic Politics

(Hardback)

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Neal Riemer presents, analyzes, and criticizes Marx's guiding values, his social scientific criticism of the existing 19th century order, his theory of revolutionary action, and his views of the future of economics, politics, society, and culture.

Reviews

Reimer constructs a model of prophetic politics from key elements of the prophetic tradition and seeks to determine how well Marx's life and work conform to it, finding that Marx fits the model in a number of respects but overall is not congruent with it. He grants that Marx's vision of Communism as a condition of life free of domination between human beings its attractive to the democratic aspiration of Western peoples. However, that vision, he concludes, is flawed by its lack of clear definition or delineation of the principles, practices, and problems of an actualized Communist society. Ultimately, the author argues, Marx failed to provide the kind of practical foresight into future probabilities that has characterized the prophetic tradition. Especially useful in graduate courses on Marxism that include critical perspectives on Marx.-Choice
"Reimer constructs a model of prophetic politics from key elements of the prophetic tradition and seeks to determine how well Marx's life and work conform to it, finding that Marx fits the model in a number of respects but overall is not congruent with it. He grants that Marx's vision of Communism as a condition of life free of domination between human beings its attractive to the democratic aspiration of Western peoples. However, that vision, he concludes, is flawed by its lack of clear definition or delineation of the principles, practices, and problems of an actualized Communist society. Ultimately, the author argues, Marx failed to provide the kind of practical foresight into future probabilities that has characterized the prophetic tradition. Especially useful in graduate courses on Marxism that include critical perspectives on Marx."-Choice

Author Bio

NEAL RIEMER is currently Andrew V. Stout Professor of Political Philosophy at Drew University, Madison, N.J.