This essay discusses Jorge Portilla’s phenomenological analysis of values and freedom in his essay, “The Phenomenology of Relajo.” Portilla argues that genuine freedom requires seriousness and sincerity; it requires wholehearted participation in cultural practices that one finds truly valuable. To support his argument, Portilla examines the ways that values and freedom are undermined when cultural practices are disrupted and break down as a result of the antics of the so-called "relajiento," a kind of “class clown” figure in Mexican culture who (...) refuses to take anything seriously. Carlos Sánchez has criticized Portilla's rejection of the relajiento, suggesting that the relajiento’s disruptive behavior may be a liberatory act of defiance against the legacy of colonialism. I argue, however, that Portilla was right to see the relajiento’s behavior as counterproductive in the fight for liberation from oppression. (shrink)

Described as ‘the most original and innovative Latin American Marxist’ by Michael Löwy – a sentiment repeated by many others – the work of José Carlos Mariátegui remains a largely untapped resource in the Western Marxist tradition outside of specialist circles. This review essay considers the recent publication of a translation and anthology of Mariátegui’s work into English by Harry Vanden and Mark Becker as a first step towards correcting this trend. It highlights Mariátegui’s understanding of race, power, and identity; (...) the combined and uneven development of capital; and the role of myth and voluntarism in revolutionary struggle as key points in which the early-twentieth-century Peruvian contributes to contemporary debates in Marxist praxis in Latin America and beyond. (shrink)

This book provides the first detailed account of Gramsci's work in the context of current critical and socio-cultural debates. Renate Holub argues that Gramsci was ahead of his time in offering a theory of art, politics and cultural production. Gramsci's achievement is discussed particularly in relation to the Frankfurt School (Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin, Bloch, Habermas), to Brecht's theoretical writings and to thinkers in the phenomenological tradition especially Merleau-Ponty. She argues for Gramsci's continuing relevance at a time of retreat from Marxist (...) positions on the postmodern left. Antonio Gramsci is distinguished by its range of philosophical grasp, its depth of specialized historical scholarship, and its keen sense of Gramsci's position as a crucial figure in the politics of contemporary cultural theory. (shrink)

This paper aims to present a critique of naturalistic theories of violence. The context of this critique concerns the naturalization of violence, which induces the assimilation power as a form of violence. Therefore, we resumed the theses of Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault on power and violence. The goal is not to list the differences between these authors on the subject, which are explicit in the development of the test, but show their concordance regarding the critique of power as something (...) synonymous with violence. (shrink)

In light of the general lack of awareness of the long history of Western-Marxist fascination with the Bible, this article offers a synopsis of part of that history. After showing how the Bible was an important element in the work of Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, it the offers a critique of the current engagements with it by Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek, Terry Eagleton and Giorgio Agamben. The third section deals with the most significant element of the religious (...) Left in recent years, namely liberation theology. It closes with some comments concerning the growth of Marxist biblical studies and some suggestions for the way Marxism might reconnect with a non-reified biblical tradition. (shrink)

Mettre le noos en relation avec les idées de « panaristos » et de « méga nèpios » permet d’étudier les spécificités du concept noétique chez Hésiode lequel est le plus souvent amalgamé, dans les recherches sur l’évolution historique du noos/noein, à Homère. La présente étude propose d’articuler davantage le noos/noein dans les objectifs poétiques propres aux Travaux et Jours d’où émerge une vision particulière de l’activité psychique de l’individu grec archaïque, depuis le sot ignorant (Persès et les mauvais rois) (...) jusqu’au poète sachant (Hésiode lui-même). Il convient également de montrer comment Hésiode établit une nouvelle hiérarchie des créatures sur la base du noos qui devient consubstantiel à la dikè. Ensemble, ces deux paramètres sont insérés dans un discours à la fois poétique et politique où s’illustre entre autre le mythe des races. Le noos sert tout particulièrement l’autorité poétique d’Hésiode contre celle des rois et révèle une vision à part de l’intelligence. (shrink)

O objetivo deste texto é demonstrar como Antonio Gramsci desenvolve as possibilidades de construção de um novo bloco historico pelas vias jacobina e da revolucão passiva. Por meio da crítica ao antijacobinismo do filósofo francês Georges Sorel, Gramsci elabora teoricamente a possibilidade de uma via jacobina para a construção do novo bloco histórico. Tomada como alternativa revolucionária ao processo necessariamente conservador representado pelas revoluções passivas, a via jacobina "gramsciana" se constituiria pela inserção das massas à vida estatal promovida pelo partido (...) enquanto moderno príncipe maquiaveliano. (shrink)

This paper considers the implications of Hannah Arendt's criticisms of Frantz Fanon and the theories of violence and politics associated with his influence for our understanding of the relationship between those two phenomena. Fanon argues that violence is a means necessary to political action, and also is an organic force or energy. Arendt argues that violence is inherently unpredictable, which means that end reasoning is in any case anti-political, and that it is a profound error to naturalize violence. We evaluate (...) their respective arguments concluding that in her well-founded rejection of the naturalization of violence, Arendt's understanding of the embodied nature of violence is less insightful than Fanon's. (shrink)

Le Corbusier participated in an urban dialogue with the first group in France to call itself fascist: the journalist Georges Valois’s militant Faisceau des Combattants et Producteurs, the “Blue Shirts,” inspired by the Italian “Fasci” of Mussolini. Le Corbusier’s portrait photograph materialised on the front cover of the January 1927 issue of the Faisceau League’s newspaper Le Nouveau Siècle edited by the former anarcho-syndicalist journalist Georges Valois, its leader, who fashioned himself as the French Mussolini. Le Corbusier was described in (...) the Revue as one of les animateurs of the Party1 – meaning a member of the technical elite who would drive the Faisceau’s plans. On 1 May 1927, the Nouveau Siècle printed a full-page feature “Le Plan Voisin” on Le Corbusier’s 1922 redesign of Paris : the architect’s single-point perspective sketch appeared below an extract lifted from the architect’s original polemic Le Centre de Paris on the pages of Le Corbusier’s second book Urbanisme published two years earlier, a treatise on urbanism.2 Three weeks later, Le Corbusier presented a slide show of his urban plans at a fascist rally for the inauguration of the Faisceau’s new headquarters on the rue du faubourg Poissonniere, thereby crystalising the architect’s hallowed status in the league... (shrink)

Excerpt from The Fields and Methods of Sociology His volume is intended to serve as a textbook for advanced T courses in sociology in which the purpose is to survey the various divisions of sociology as this science has developed in the United States in particular, and in all other countries where the subject is taught or studied. It emphasizes especially the sources of materials for investigation, the methods of research, and the processes of generalization in the various fields of (...) sociological science. Present day sociologists are more interested in research than in classification. It is recognized, however, that intelligent research cannot be undertaken to the best advantage without an adequate understanding of the various divisions into which the general science of sociology falls. Consequently, the first part of the volume is devoted to an analysis of the fields and problems of sociology and the second part to sources and methods. While the volume is organized in textbook form, it is expected that it will appeal very largely to the general reader who is searching for a well organized and clear presentation of the subject of sociology in all its aspects. It is believed that the present volume offers the most complete and thoroughgoing analysis and synthesis of sociological content and methodology now available. I wish to emphasize especially the inductive approach of the present treatise. Every chapter is the result of a careful study of the data it treats. Speculative and a priori approaches have been avoided. Consequently each field of sociology has been analyzed realistically as to subject matter, sources and methods and the results are set forth as clearly and as simply and directly as pos sible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

The paper analyses the worldviews of Vyacheslav Lypynsky,, who was an outstanding intellectual of Ukrainian conservative thought of the 1900–1930’s. Particular attention is paid to his views of the 1920’s when he completed the construction of his theory, and revised his earlier writings. Under the influence of the early sociological writings of Vilfredo Parto and Robert Michels, he developed a typology of the origins of aristocracy and corresponding types of state and society, these being classocratic, ochlocratic, and democratic. The paper (...) looks at the similarities of Lypynsky’s views compared with some approaches typical of “conservative revolution”. Lypynsky’s argument is transitional, and comes from the necessity to reflect upon and respond to the core transformations of European societies as a result of, and post World War One. He completely rejected borrowing methods and attitudes of “mass politics” and use them in conservatism. In defining the term “nation”, Lypynsky consistently kept the framework of its political interpretation. At the same time, he understood that the Ukrainian national project was feasible only as political and anti-colonial. Thus, he tried to fit his understanding of ‘nation’ within monarchism and legitimism. Overall, Lypynsky’s ideas are far removed from any restorative intentions. It was a question of how to “restore the past”, since he was critical of the pre-World War One and pre-revolutionary status quo. He remained critical of this status quo when it was destroyed, and did not idealize it. The question is, however, if a new political action is possible, and if a new political order based on conservative ideas can be achieved. (shrink)