From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Wed Jul 12 2006 - 14:05:09 EDT
Hi Howard; I had a longer reply but a slip of the finger and I lost it. So -- more briefly -- I agree basically with your contextualization which emphasizes the unity of theory and practice. It also seems to me, and I think this needs to be said, that the passage is a statement of Marx's *humanism*. A humanism, though, which is not merely one-sidedly theoretical: i.e. a humanism which is expressed in praxis. So, from that standpoint, whether one is a humanist (or a Marxist-Humanist or a pluralist et al) has to be judged from one's practice. ["Pluralism is about ideas, not people" is a claim -- by Alan Freeman -- which very much runs counter to Marx's -- and genuinely pluralist -- perspectives, I believe: pluralism is about ideas _and_ people). To say that one is one of these is not enough. So, in a sense, ad hominem arguments can be justified _if_ the practice of the person is in contradiction to one's stated principles. In that sense, a criticism 'to the person' based on that person's behavior can be important indeed: this is a practical issue that everyone who is involved in political activism confronts: individuals must be held responsible for their _conduct_. This is a rather basic issue of revolutionary socialist morals and ethics. In solidarity, Jerry > Therefore, "the criticism of the speculative philosophy of law finds its > progression not within itself but in tasks which can be solved in one way > -- > through practice." Etc. The theme is developed from the beginning to the > end of the introduction. > So in the passage itself, I take the meaning to be that theory is capable > of > gripping the masses when it becomes a causal force in actual people -- it > demonstrates ad hominum when it is an actual hominum doing the hitting in > a > hand to hand fight, and with his fist. >>> "It is clear that the arm of criticism cannot replace the criticism >> of arms. Material force can only be overthrown by material force; but >> theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the >> masses. Theory is capable of gripping the masses as soon as it >> demonstrates ad hominem, and it demonstrates ad hominem as soon as it >> becomes radical. To be radical is to grasp the root of the matter. >> But, for man, the root is man himself." >> Contribution to the Critique >> of Hegel's /Philosophy of Right/
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