"(...) In this sense Engels [1925/1978, p. 480] remarked that 'Natural scientists may say what they want, but they are ruled by philosophy. . . Not until natural science and the science of history have absorbed dialectics will all the philosophical fuss. .become superfluous and disappear in the positive science.'' Here is the quote from Engels that Ricardo quoted. It is first of all perhaps worth noting that this view is controversial within Marxism and that there are plenty of Marxists who also denounce Engels' positivism (...) " (underline by me)
Bruce
Bruce,
Indeed, "nothing that this view is controversial within marxism" : positivism, as I understand it - and 'till I know - is a doctrine postulated by Comte characterized, above all, by an anti-metaphysical and anti-teleological direction that had as main scope to "say" to phylosophy that knowledge would only be valid or would have a "scientific" basis if, and only if, it was based on facts and data of experience...
So, in this sense - and in my humble view - "marxism" is a kind of positivism... because facts still beeing facts (Bakhtin's abstract objectivism?).
But, Vigotskii himself seems, many times, subverts this... We could call in help of this his disctiction between sense and meaning of words for exemple... or the central concept of mediation, cultural mediation...
Am I wrong at all?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Nov 01 2001 - 01:01:56 PST