ARTICLES

From Abstract to Concrete: The State as an Unquiet Ideal

Corinna Lotz & Paul Feldman
Pages 49–76| Published online: 27 March 2024

Lotz, Corinna and Paul Feldman. 2024. “From Abstract to Concrete: The State as an Unquiet Ideal.” Marxism & Sciences 3(1): 49–76.
https://doi.org/10.56063/MS.2403.03103

pdf
Previous Article
Table of Contents
Next Article

ABSTRACT

In this essay we attempt to interpret and develop Ilyenkov’s pioneering investigation of the nature of the Ideal as a philosophical category in relation to state transformation in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In the first section we set out Ilyenkov’s category of the Ideal and its relationship to the Universal. We propose understanding the state as an Ideal, as a “concrete universal,” which, as a developing whole exists, or rather, is negated into, contradictory relationships with its various parts. In this way it is a component of social consciousness as well as social being, which constitutes the culture of any society or social system. We suggest that the category of a dialectical Ideal is vital in theorizing the nature and essence of the relationship between the contemporary state and struggles for democracy.
In the second part, we outline the evolution of the capitalist form of state, touching on the conflicted history of Marxist viewpoints up to and including contemporary state theorists. The British state is analysed as an “ideal” model, given its particular nature as the oldest capitalist state with its “mother of parliaments.” Rather than viewing the capitalist form of state as a simple reflection of economic categories, we see the state’s relationship with capitalist production, and with its subjects (i.e. its Other), as “semi-autonomous,” thus existing in a complex, uneven, simultaneously “fragile, unstable, provisional, and temporary relationship.” (Jessop 2012). This is exemplified by historic class struggles in Britain and ongoing political crises, post-Brexit. We propose that grasping the state as a dynamic, changing ensemble of contradictory forces, while at the same time having its own objective existence and logic of development, is vital in the light of the present transition towards autocratic and dictatorial forms of state rule with its attendant crisis of the democratic Ideal.

KEYWORDS: The state, neoliberalism, the Ideal, Ilyenkov, Lenin, Engels, Jessop.

REFERENCES

Arthur, Christopher. 2022. The Spectre of Capital: Idea and Reality. Brill.

Ayers, Alison J. and Alfredo Saad-Filho. (2015). “Democracy against Neoliberalism: Paradoxes, Limitations, Transcendence.” Critical Sociology 41(4-5): 597–618.  https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444355093.ch1

Bakhurst, David. 2023. The Heart of the Matter: Ilyenkov, Vygotsky and the Courage of Thought. Brill.[1]

Carnoy, Martin. 1992. The State and Political Theory. Princeton Legacy Library.

Carrington, Damian. 2023. Failure of Cop28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists. Accessed 31 January 2024:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/14/failure-cop28-fossil-fuel-phase-out-devastating-say-scientists.

Coates, David. 2018. Flawed Capitalism: The Anglo-American Condition and its Resolution. Agenda Publishing.

De Paolo, Ezquiel. 2022. Dialectics of the abstract and the concrete in the enactive approach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxd8iJfj-Bs

Engels, Friedrich. 1859. Economic Manuscripts: Engels’ Review of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy [Abstract] (marxists.org). Accessed 31 January 2024: https://www.marxists.org/subject/dialectics/marx-engels/review-political-economy.htm

———. 1877. Anti-Duhring. Accessed 31 January 2024:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring.

———. 2016. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Fine, Ben and Alfredo Saad-Filho. (2017). “Thirteen Things You Need to Know About Neoliberalism.” Critical Sociology 43(4-5): 685-706. 

Frolov, I. 1984. Dictionary of Philosophy. Progress. (first appeared in Russian in 1967)

Gramsci, Antonio. 1999. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. The Electric Book Company.

Hay, Colin and Michael Lister. 2006. The State – Theories and Issues. Palgrave.

Hunter, Rob. 2023. Marxism and the Capitalist State – a new debate. Springer.

Ilyenkov, Evald. 1974 The Universal. Accessed 1 February 2024:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/articles/universal.htm

———. 1977. Dialectical Logic. Progress. Russian version 1974.

———. 1982. Dialectics of the Abstract and Concrete in Marx’s Capital. Progress.

———. 1988. Marx and the Western World. Voprosy Filosofii.

———. 2014. Dialectics of the Ideal, A. Levant, V. Oittinen Eds. Brill.

———. 2024. “The Ideal.” In Ilyenkov: Cosmos and Praxis, edited by Sascha Freyberg and Alexandr Rozhkov, VerumFactum: Venezia (forthcoming).

Ipsos. 2023. Trust in politicians reaches its lowest score in 40 years. Accessed 31 January 2024:

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/ipsos-trust-in-professions-veracity-index-2023.

Jessop, Bob. 2002. The Future of the Capitalist State. Wiley.

———. 2003. “Putting Hegemony in its Place.” Journal of Critical Realism 2 (1): 138–148.  

———. 2003. From Thatcherism to New Labour. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/resources/sociology-online-papers/papers/jessop-from-thatcherism-to-new-labour.pdf

———. 2012. “Marxist Approaches to Power.” In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, 3–14. Blackwell.

———. 2015. The State, Past, Present and Future. Polity.

Jones, Bryn and Mike O’Donnell. 2018. Alternatives to Neoliberalism. Policy Press.

Khachaturian, Raphael. 2023. “Crisis, Social Reproduction, and the Capitalist State: Notes on an Uncertain Conjuncture.” In Marxism and the Capitalist State – a new debate. Springer.

Kircz, Joost. 2023. “Time=Money: The Notion of the Ideal Applied to Physics.” Marxism & Sciences 2(1): 1–52.

Kisner, Wendell. 2008. “The concrete universal in Žižek and Hegel.” International Journal of Žižek Studies 2 (2): 1–35.

Knuuttila, Tarja. 2014. “Metamorphosis of Meaning: The Concept of the Ideal from a Semiotic Perspective.” In Dialectics of the Ideal. Brill.

Lektorsky, Vladislav. 2022. Conceptual Address. International Friends of Ilyenkov. https://www.youtube.com/@ilyenkovfriends/videos

Lenin, V.I. 1917. The State and Revolution. Marxists Internet Archive (marxists.org)

———. 1972. Philosophical Notebooks, Collected Works. Volume 38. Lawrence and Wishart/Progress.

Lotz, Gold, Cole and Feldman. 2014. “Contradictions within the Ideal, mediation and transformation in global capitalist society.” International symposium, Helsinki University. Accessed 1 February 2024: https://www.aworldtowin.net/resources/Contradictions-within-the-Ideal.html

Lotz, Corinna and Penny Cole. 2018. “Deconstructing Neoliberal Hegemony.” Copenhagen IFI symposium

Lotz, Corinna. 2014. When Moscow viewed creative Marxism as heresy https://www.aworldtowin.net/reviews/IlyenkovDialecticsoftheIdeal.html

———. 2019. Finding Evald Ilyenkov: How a Soviet philosopher who stood up for dialectics continues to inspire. Lupus Books.

———. 2023. “A Theory and Practice of Cognition for Our Time:Building on Ilyenkov’s Dialectical Logic.” Marxism & Sciences 2(1): 53–71.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. 1845. The German Ideology. Marxist Internet Archive. Accessed 31 January 2024: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology.

———. 1848. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Marxists Internet Archive.  Accessed 22 March 2024: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto.

———.1859. Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. Marxists Internet Archive. Accessed 4 March 2024: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/index.htm.

Miliband, Ralph. 2009. The State in Capitalist Society. Merlin Press

Ninos, G. 2023. “The significance of the relation of the logical and historical in Ilyenkov’s approach to dialectics.” Stud East Eur Thought  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-023-09601-6  

Pelcynski, Zbigniew A. (ed). 1984. The State and Civil Society: Studies in Hegel’s Political Philosophy. Marxists Internet Archive. Accessed 31 January 2024: https://www.marxists.org/reference//subject/philosophy/works/ot/pelczyns.htm.

Poulantzas, Nicos. 2024. The Problem of the Capitalist State. Accessed 30 January: https://newleftreview.org/issues/i58/articles/nicos-poulantzas-the-problem-of-the-capitalist-state.

Renwick, Alan, Ben Lauderdale and Meg Russell. 2023. The Future of Democracy in the UK. Constitution Unit, University College London. Accessed 31 January 2024:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/sites/constitution_unit/files/dukb_report_4_digital.pdf

Saville, John. 1995. The Consolidation of the Capitalist State 1800-1850. Pluto Press.

Shillcock, Richard. 2013. “The Concrete Universal and Cognitive Science.” Axiomathes 24: 63–80. Accessed January 2024: shillcock-concrete-universal.pdf (uberty.org).

Stewart, Heather and Aubrey Allegretti. 2022. How Liz Truss plunged the UK to the brink of recession in just one month. Accessed 31 January 2024: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/30/liz-truss-uk-economic-crisis.

Tomba, Massimiliano. 2019. Insurgent Universality: An Alternative Legacy of Modernity. OUP.

———. 2020. Insurgent Universality. Accessed 31 January: 2024.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8e89CvuoIE&pp=ygUIVG9tYmEsIE0%3D

Ukraine Solidarity Campaign 2023. Webinar. Accessed 31 January 2024: https://youtu.be/pOGXTM5R848.

Vygotsky, Lev Semenovich. 1997. The Collected Works of LS Vygotsky: The History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions. Vol. 4. Springer Science & Business Media.