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On this page I aim to post other material published on the Internet relevant to the aims of my site.
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[1] Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition, by Glen Magee
This book was published by Cornell University Press in 2001 (re-issued in paperback, 2008); here I reproduce the Introduction to this work, copied from the Marxist Internet Archive. The thesis of Magee's book is central to the aims of Essay Fourteen Parts One and Two (summary here), where I show that dialecticians have imported into Marxism a set of ancient, mystical and Hermetic concepts, which thought-forms can also be found in the work of countless ruling-class theorists, right across the globe, in all known class dominated modes of production.
I hasten to add that phrases like "ruling-class thought-form", "ruling-class ideology", and "ruling-class view of reality" used at this site are not meant to imply that all or most members of various ruling-classes actually invented these ways of thinking or of seeing the world (although some of them did -- for example, Heraclitus, Plato, Cicero and Marcus Aurelius). These phrases are meant to highlight theories (or "ruling ideas") that are conducive to, or which rationalise the interests of the various ruling-classes history has inflicted on humanity, whoever invents them. However, this will become the central topic of Parts Two and Three of Essay Twelve; until then, readers are re-directed here, here, and here, for further explanation.
[2] The Hegel Legend, by Gustav Müller
Here I have posted an article written 50 years ago that debunks a hoary old myth that Hegel's method can be summed-up by the neat formula: 'Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis'. I am doing this, not to rescue Hegel from his dialectical groupies, but to underline the fact that many of the latter can't even get Hegel right!
[3] Anti-Dialectical Dialogues
Dialogue No 1: The Transformation of Quantity Into Quality
This is an entertaining dialogue (written by my friend and ally 'Babeuf'), which is aimed at showing just how useless Dialectical Materialism would be if anyone tried to employ it in the class struggle. [Posted 08/02/07.]
[4] Part VI of Nigel Harris's Mandate of Heaven
I have included this in order to help substantiate some of the things I allege in Essay Nine Part Two. [I must however distance myself from Nigel's philosophical remarks.]
Copied from here.
I am also publishing several of Guy Robinson's Essays. These had until recently been posted at Guy's site, which no longer seems to exist. In my opinion, Guy is one of the few Marxist Philosophers whose work is genuinely worth reading. Indeed, I'd go much further: I cannot praise his book, Philosophy and Mystification (Fordham University Press, 2003), too highly; it seems to me that this is how Marxist Philosophy should be done. [Sadly, I learnt recently that Guy passed away in October 2011.]
Now, I only encountered Guy's work in 2005, but I soon saw that he had anticipated several of my own ideas -- except he manages to express in two paragraphs what it takes me several pages to say! Unlike the vast bulk of the ('philosophical') material churned out by Dialectical Marxists -- and particularly Academic Marxists --, Guy's work is a model of clarity. It's no accident, therefore, to find that Guy is writing in the Wittgensteinian tradition.
These essays are posted here with Guy's permission (and now that of his son), but no one should assume that he agrees with any of the views found at this site -- other than those already expressed in his essays. Nor should anyone assume that I agree with everything Guy says, either.
I have re-formatted this material in line with the conventions adopted at this site; spelling has been altered to conform to UK English. I have also corrected several obvious typos.
Essay One: Making Materialism Historical
Essay Two: Introduction To Philosophy Demystified
Essay Three: The Concept of Nature, Its Mystification and Demystification
Essay Four: On Misunderstanding Science
Guy's son has just sent me the complete text of his father's unpublished book -- Philosophy and Demystification -- parts of which I have already posted. I will however make the entire text available over the next few months.
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