Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 10:58:25 -0700 From: Charles Miller <bautiste at uswest.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 To: lbo-talk-digest <owner-lbo-talk-digest at lists.panix.com> Subject: Sokal et al.
Carrol Cox wrote:
And perhaps if more Marxists read more of the bulk of Marx's writings they would discover in practice that Marx honored (And Practiced) both academic and theoretical writing, though only the latter was or is closely tied to political practice.
But to make an "academic" affair out of Marx is surely a way of saying that he and his work have been relegated to something akin to mental masturbation, no? Marx was not above accusing the neo-Hegelians of ineffectiveness due to their academic tendencies to relegate questions of practice to mere theory. I've looked at the German Ideology lately and in several places, one gets the distinct impression that Marx is railing against the "academic" aspect to Bauer and others.
Indeed, doesn't Marx's main disagreement with Feuerbach involve the latter's tendency to abstract, which is reminiscent of the hallowed halls of academe rather than the life of the world?
chuck miller