Critique of Dialectical Reason

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Critique of Dialectical Reason, originally Critique de la raison dialectique (1960), was the last of Sartre's major philosophical works: it attempted to reconcile Marxism and Existentialism. By using events of the French Revolution and other historical occasions (including the notion that the endowment by Europeans of certain metals with a "precious" value led inexorably to slavery), Sartre attempted to show how what we call class is a special instance of a human grouping, or rather several levels of human groupings. He preceded this with complex explanations of groupings of increasing sophistication, ranging from a queue at a bus stop to institutions.

A second and incomplete volume with emphasis on the Stalinization of the Bolshevik revolution was published in French in 1985 and in English in 1992.

[edit] External links

• Essay on the CDR by Andy Blunden

Excerpts from Sartre's work:

• The Dogmatic Dialectic and the Critical Dialectic
• The Intelligibility of History: Totalisation without a Totaliser