I have not finished listening to the book, but as of now, the economics of
Marx's time is a big one. The author spends a fair amount of time
explaining certain concepts which Marx used such as dialectics, freedom,
materialism, idealism in their historical context. He spends alot of time
addressing the supposed tension between Marx and Engels within certain
post-marxist approaches. A tension which I am not that familiar with, but
the author makes a strong argument for the consistency between the two.
As far as Hegal, I would say the author sides on Marx as a dialectical
materialist, rather than what I see as Hegalian, the dialectic of ideas.
He spends some time reviewing Hegal and materialism-idealism which was
helpful for me. The ecomonics is a big one for me, which I have no
patience or understanding for, and the book was helpful for me in
understanding that aspect of Marx's work.
For me, I don't see the book as a "simpler" subsitute instead of a deeper
analysis of Marx's ideas, but rather as a tool to facilitate that deeper
analysis. Much in the same way Kozulin's intro to *Thought and Language"
served an important function in understanding where Vygotsky was coming
from. Such an approach of course has a consequence which is what I assume
you were getting at. But, with both Vygotsky and Marx the historical
context can serve as an important tool in understanding their ideas, rather
than projecting our contemporary context upon their work.
Nate
---- Original Message -----
From: Paul Dillon <dillonph who-is-at northcoast.com>
To: <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 3:37 PM
Subject: Re: Marxism audiobook online
> Nate,
>
> Which of Marx's 'most difficult ideas' did you find this book especially
> good at explaining? How does he handle the relationship between Marx and
> Hegel? From my experience there's no easy way to grasp the application
of
> dialectics in Marx's analysis of the commodity without deep study.
> Nevertheless, even at a first reading of the first chapter of Capital,
> something of the deep insight of that analysis is communicated to the
> patient reader.
>
> Paul H. Dillon
>
>
>