Lukacs and Heidegger: Towards a New Philosophy

Lukacs and Heidegger: Towards a New Philosophy
Author Lucien Goldmann
Original title Lukacs et Heidegger
Language French
Published 1973

Lukacs and Heidegger: Towards a New Philosophy (French: Lukacs et Heidegger) is a book by Lucien Goldmann published after his death in 1973.

Summary

Goldmann tries to bring together the Marxist concept of reification from Georg Lukacs and the existential concept of Dasein from Martin Heidegger. He argues that the concept of Being in Heidgger, was already present in the concept of Totality in Lukacs. Lukacs's critique of the alienation inherent in capitalism, is thus present in Dasein as an ontological concept. Both Lukacs and Heidegger critique the reifcation or thing-ification of the human dasein. Inauthentic dasein is parallel to the failure of the historical subject to awaken to praxis.[1]

Goldmann argues that the concept of reification as employed in Being and Time (1927) showed the strong influence of Lukacs's work History and Class Consciousness (1923).[2]

The fundamental goal of both Heidegger and Lukacs was to overcome the traditional subject-object dichotomy of Western Philosophy.[3]

Reception

Laurence Paul Hemming, writing in Heidegger and Marx (2013), finds Goldmann's suggestion that Lukács influenced Heidegger to be highly unlikely at best.[4]

References

  1. ↑ The Wager of Lucien Goldmann: Tragedy, Dialectics, and a Hidden God.
  2. ↑ Heidegger and Marx: A Productive Dialogue Over the Language of Humanism.
  3. ↑ Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism.
  4. ↑ Hemming, Laurence Paul (2013). Heidegger and Marx: A Productive Dialogue Over the Language of Humanism. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0-8101-2875-0.