ARTICLES

Evald Ilyenkov and Marek Siemek

Maxim Morozov
Pages 77–110| Published online: 24 March 2024

Morozov, Maxim. 2024. “Evald Ilyenkov and Marek Siemek on Turning Marxism into a Science.” Marxism & Sciences 3(1): 77–110.
https://doi.org/10.56063/MS.2403.03104

ABSTRACT

The paper discusses the problem of the rupture between theory and practice in relation to the idea of the identity of dialectics, logic and theory of knowledge. Evald Ilyenkov and Marek Siemek show that the tepid attitude of marxist theorists towards philosophy, which is based on individual quotations of Marx and Engels rather than on a deep theoretical reflection on their cognitive foundations, has led to the elimination of important epistemological issues from Marxism and a general retreat of understanding of knowledge to a pre-Kantian level, where practice is understood as something only external to theory. This entails distortions in goal-setting and the choice of means in the context of mass movements associated with the emancipation of labour. Lenin warns of these difficulties associated with a lack of high philosophical culture in his “philosophical testament.” In an attempt to fulfil this task, Siemek and Ilyenkov undertake a serious reversal of scientific consciousness to the problematics contained in the works of the German idealists. Both Siemek and Ilyenkov point out that the marxist theory of knowledge has yet to be created, that in the texts of the classics it is given only in a fragmentary form, in some individual aphoristic remarks, and that in order not to “reduce dialectics to the sum of examples” (Lenin), we must rediscover the works of the German idealists, read them in the most profound way in the context of contemporary problems and challenges, carry out their independent materialist revision, and ground our minds in a future practice which can be nothing other than the practice of the future. A practice that today manifests itself in the practice of knowledge.

Keywords: Ilyenkov, Siemek, dialectics, Hegel, Marx, theory of knowledge, science, ideal.

REFERENCES

Bajer, Magdalena. 2005. Blizny po ukąszeniu. Warsaw: Biblioteka “Więzi.”

Barsukov, Igor. 2011. Dialectics of labour in Hegel’s philosophical system. Krasnoyarsk: V.P. Astafiev Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University. (In Russian).

Engels, Friedrich. 1986. Dialectics of Nature. Moscow, Progress Publishers.

Hegel, Georg. 1952. Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

———. 1971. Philosophy of Spirit, Encyclopedia, Vol. 3. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

———. 2009. Lectures on the History of Philosophy 1825–6: Volume I: Introduction and Oriental Philosophy. Oxford: University Press, 2009.

Ilyenkov, Evald. 1975. “The Universal.” In Philosophical Investigations in the USSR, ed. by Frederick J. Adelmann: Springer.

———. 1977. Dialectical Logic, Essays on its History and Theory. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

———, 1982. Leninist Dialectics and the Metaphysics of Positivism. New Park Publications.

———. 1991a. “Hegel and ‘Alienation’.” In Philosophy and Culture. Moscow: Politizdat. (In Russian).

Ilyenkov, Evald. 1991b. “On the ‘essence of man’ and ‘humanism’ as understood by Adam Schaff -About A. Schaff’s book ‘Marxism and the Human Individual’.” In Philosophy and Culture. Moscow: Politizdat. (In Russian).

———. 2018. “Philosophy and Science.” In Ilyenkov E.V. Ideal. And reality. 1960–1979. Moscow: Canon+ROOI “Rehabilitation.” (In Russian).

———. 2021. “Lecture on consciousness”, Publ., preface and note by A.D. Maidansky. Philosophical Journal 14(1): 162172. (In Russian).

Ivanenko, Anton. 2012. Philosophy as Scientific Learning: The Genesis of the Scientific Method in the Works of J.G. Fichte. St Petersburg: Vladimir Dal. (In Russian).

Lenin, Vladimir. 1961. Collected Works, Vol. 5. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.

———. 1964. Collected Works, Vol. 4. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

———. 1972. “On the Significance of Militant Materialism.” In Collected Works, Vol. 33. Moscow, Progress Publishers: 227236.

———. 1976. “On the Question of Dialectics.” In Collected Works, 4th Edition, Vol. 38. Moscow, Progress Publischers: 357361.

Lifshitz, Mikhail. 2012. In Support of Ordinary Marxism. Dialogues. Articles. Lectures. Moscow: Art of the XXI century. (In Russian).

Löwy, Michael. 1973. Dialectique et revolution. Paris: Anthropos.

Lobastov, Gennady. 2004. “On Reminiscences (foreword).” In Evald Vasilyevich Ilyenkov in Memoirs, ed. Gennady Lobastov. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities: 36. (In Russian).

———. 2012. Dialectics of reasonable form and phenomenology of madness. Moscow: Russkaya Panorama. (In Russian).

Luxembourg, Rosa. 2009. The Crisis in the German Social-Democracy. BiblioLife.

Marx, Karl. 1959. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

———. 1975. Selected Correspondence. Marx and Engels. London: International Publishers.

Megill, Allan. 2002. Karl Marx: The Burden of Reason (Why Marx Rejected Politics and the Market). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Mezhuev, Vadim. 2004. “Evald Ilyenkov and the end of classical Marxist philosophy in Russia.” In Evald Vasilyevich Ilyenkov in Memoirs, ed. Gennady Lobastov. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities: 275284. (In Russian).

Putschaev, Yuri. 2017. “Soviet Philosophers and Religion: Case of Il’enkov (Marxism as Philosophy of Life and Blank Spot of Death).” Bulletin of the Orthodox Svyato-Tikhonovsky Humanitarian University. Series 1: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies, 69: 4868. (In Russian).

Siemek, Marek. 1977. Idea transcendentalizmu u Fichtego i Kanta: studium z dziejów filozoficznej problematyki wiedzy. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

———. 1988. “Poznanie jako praktyka (Prolegomena do przyszłej epistemologii).” In Marksizm w kulturze filozoficznej XX wieku, ed. M. J. Siemek. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

———. 1989. “‘Nauka’ i ‘naukowość’ jako ideologiczne kategorie filozofii.” In Racjonalność. Nauka. Społeczeństwo. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

———. 1998. “Dwa modele intersubiektywności.” In Hegel i filozofia. Warszawa: Oficyna Naukowa.

———. 2007. “Lenin i kamerdynerzy.” Dziennik, Europa, 144 (0106).

Sobotka, Milan. 1964. Člověk a práce v německé klasické filosofii (Praha, Nakl. polit. lit., 1964).

Suvorov, Alexander. 2004. “The focus of pain.” In Evald Vasilyevich Ilyenkov in Memoirs, ed. Gennady Lobastov. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities: 1151. (In Russian).