Dialectics For The New Century

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Dialectics for the New Century
Daniel Kodaj
To cite this article: Daniel Kodaj (2010) Dialectics for the New Century, , 38:1, 170-171, DOI:
10.1080/03017600903454462
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03017600903454462
Published online: 15 Feb 2010.
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170 Book Reviews
Bertell Ollman and Tony Smith (eds): Dialectics for the New Century
New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
ISBN 978 0 230 53531 2
This book grew out of a special issue of Science and Society (Vol. 62, No. 3, Fall 1998),
devoted to the problem of Marxist dialectics. It showcases some of the most
important theoreticians working on the subject, including such veterans as Frederick
Jameson, István Mészáros and the editors themselves: Tony Smith and Bertell Ollman.
(A welcome addition is Thomas T. Sekine, the great Japanese Marx scholar.) Instead
of stating their position on dialectics*which in many cases would be like
summarizing Proust in a minute*the authors contribute little case studies that
allow the reader a bird’s eye view of the current theoretical landscape. Avoiding
formulae and carefully choosing contested but relevant topics, the authors and
editors inject new life into Marxist dialectics, long presumed dead by many even in
the Marxist camp.
The articles can be classified into four groups. The first group concentrates on
methodology, throwing some light on what dialectics is and how it works. Bertell
Ollman draws up an elegant framework, focusing on how past and future lie hidden
in, and can be uncovered from, the totality of historical present. Christopher Arthur
presents some Hegelian and Marxian dialectical transformations, and argues against
the misconception that dialectics lays out a temporal process. Thomas Sekine offers
an exceptionally lucid account of the parallels between Marx’s Capital and Hegel’s
Science of Logic, illuminating Lenin’s oft-quoted but rarely explained comment about
the intimate connection between these works. Michael Löwy explores historical
variants of dialectics in Trotsky, Lenin and Lukács, while Richard Levins clarifies the
difference between dialectics and systems theory. Funny short pieces by Bill Livant,
interspersed throughout the volume, provide a lighthearted introduction to
dialectical complexities.
Papers in the second group focus on the dialectics of nature, a hotly debated topic
even among the most fervent advocates of dialectical methodology. John Bellamy
Foster argues for a fruitful theoretical connection between Marxist ecology and
dialectical thinking, while Lucien Sève offers a Hegelian category to make sense of the
notion of emergence. David Harvey explores the interconnections of various concepts
of space and time, coexisting and merging to constitute the horizons of experiential
reality under capitalism.
Papers in the third group apply dialectical thinking to current Marxist themes.
Tony Smith dismantles neoliberal and social-democratic theories of globalization,
arguing that each theoretical regime points toward the Marxian model of capital.
István Mészáros calls for a renewed understanding of the mediation between base and
superstructure in order to see how small-scale individual teleologies can be fused into
conscious collective action.
Book Reviews 171
The articles in the fourth group explore the metatheory of dialectics: its nature and
proper function. Frederic Jameson’s musings revolve around reflexivity, historicity
and the immanent contradictions of situated human action (best captured, according
to him, by Brecht). Joel Kovel articulates the classic position that dialectic is
ultimately rooted in, and feeds back into, praxis, while Ira Gollobin equates dialectics
with wisdom. There’s even a nod towards poststructuralism as Nancy Hartsock sums
up the possible connections between feminism and dialectical Marxism.
As one would expect, the book fails to deliver a unified method for, or even a clear
common concept of, dialectics. The authors use ‘dialectics’ as a shorthand for
‘understanding totality’, and they usually take ‘totality’ to be the complex dynamic of
capitalist social relations, masked by reification and ideology. But ‘totality’ can also
mean the totality of our conceptual terrain (David Harvey, Frederic Jameson), the
totality of biosphere (John Bellamy Foster), or the totality unfolding from a set of
theoretical premises (Tony Smith). Dialectics is supposed be a method, or a flair, for
finding ‘contradictions’ in these totalities, uncovering the elements which cause them
to move.
Such pluralism is laudable but it also points to the inherent problems of the
subject. A fully worked out Marxist dialectics would inevitably be the philosophical
underpinning of Marxism: its ethics, its theory of language, its metaphysics, or all of
these, depending on how ambitious (or naive) one is. But it is unclear whether such a
project is feasible without relapsing into the ‘idealism’ that Marx was so proud to
leave behind.
Both Hegel and Kant had a comprehensive theory about the nature of language
and cognition, something which Marxism still lacks. The dialectical investigations of
Marx and Engels were predicated on the assumption that the ‘idealism’ of Kant and
Hegel can be supplanted by a proper understanding of human material relations and
their effects on thinking. Such an understanding is still in the coming. Moreover, as
Michael Löwy demonstrates in the present volume, the 20th-century resurgence of
dialectics was marked by an emphasis on the subject. But how the subject arises from
society and how society arises from nature is still a mystery for Marxism. (Except for
the idea that it all has to do with labor. But what does labor have to do with the
mind?)
Dialectics for the New Century leaves open the core questions surrounding Marxist
dialectics, but still provides ample food for thought. It does an excellent job of
rejuvenating some of the old problems, and throwing in new ones for good measure.
For those who are more or less acquainted with the subject, it is a much-waited
overview of the state of the art, and a valuable source of inspiration.
DANIEL KODAJ

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ISSN: 0301-7605 (Print) 1748-8605 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.

Dialectics for the New Century

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03017600903454462

Published online: 15 Feb 2010.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

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