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hi there jayson,
> I don't know the answer, but let me ask what the point of the quiz
is. In
>the _GI_ the "true socialism" discussion comes up as a critique of
_German_
>writers' misconstrual of Fr. and Engl. communist movements through a
focus
>on a "more reasonable social order," an "absolute or 'true'
socialism.
>That is, these German writers abstract those movements from the
particular
>needs and historical situation of a particular class--bien sur: the
working
>class. So is your question an intervention against idealism,
abstracting
>theory from historical practice.
sort of, and a bit more than this.
> I would say that a good deal of the debate over theory and practice
on
>this list could be harmonized in a look at Marx's first three Theses
on
>Feurbach. He clearly is against vulgar materialism and detached
>theory/idealism. Rather he shows the necessary imbrication of the
two:
>"The materialist doctrine concerning the changing of circumstances
are
>changed by men [and women] and that it is essential to educate the
eduator
>himself [herself]" (Thesis III).
the citation is from an essay on the ways in which certain theories are read as 'pure texts', as abstractions from the conditions - including the theoretical conditions as well as the conditions of struggle and conflicts - which produced them. the author wants to make the point - as do marx and engels in _the german ideology_ - that this abstract 'interpretation' is only possible insofar as the 'interpreter' (in the case of M&E, the reference is to grun) regard german politics and philosophy as themselves abstract, universalisable, the measure of what it means to do politics and philosopy.
as to harmonising the list, that might be a lot harder than referring to any citation, the one i sent no less than the bearded ones'. the pressures toward abstract idealism and vulgar materialism are continually reproduced in the conditions of our lives. money would be the exemplar of the former, for instance. the most i suspect we can hope for on the list is a committment to maintaining the tension between the two rather than thinking that their harmonisation is possible *in the abstract*, or indeed desirable within the virtual world of cyber-spats.
i'll wait to see if anyone else has any ideas who the author of the citation might be before awarding prizes.
angela