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This book introduces the English-speaking reader to the thought of Stanislaw Brzozowski (1878-1911), an outstanding Polish philosopher and literary critic. Although little known in the West, Brzozowski is an important forerunner of the intellectual tradition of "Western Marxism" most commonly associated with Georg Lukács and Antonio Gramsci. Walicki argues that Brzozowski's antinaturalistic approach resulted in a radical reinterpretation of Marxism that dealt with many of the problems of the revolt against positivism in European philosophy, and that it was Brzozwski, not Lukács, who initially conceived of the retrieval of the philosophical and humanist aspect of Marxism and its separation from the Engels school of "scientific Marxism."
This book investigates the intellectual contributions of Stanislaw Brzozowski to the development of Western Marxism, positioning him as a critical precursor to thinkers like Georg Lukács and Antonio Gramsci. Andrzej Walicki, a distinguished scholar of Polish intellectual history, utilizes primary source analysis of Brzozowski’s philosophical and critical writings to challenge the traditional historiography of Marxist thought. He argues that Brzozowski’s antinaturalistic framework provided a radical alternative to the deterministic Engelsian school, effectively bridging the gap between the revolt against positivism and the humanist revival of Marxist philosophy.
What You Will Find
Scholars recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the non-Western origins of critical Marxist theory. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a vital resource for those studying the intersection of European philosophy and political ideology.
Page Count:
360
Publication Date:
1989-06-01
Publisher:
Clarendon Press
ISBN-10:
0198273282
ISBN-13:
9780198273288
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