Boston College Studies in Philosophy – serie

Hegel once said that philosophy is the "world stood on its head" and Karl Marx credited his own philosophic genius with setting the Hegel­ ian world right side up again. But both of these intellectual Atlases of the philosophical sphere that hid before our mind's eye a symbol bears further reflection. Philosophy down the ages has always involved at least two elements, first, the universe of being as its objective pole and second, man gazing into this crystallic sphere as the subjective pole. The "world" of Hegel and Marx and of most philosophers can be interpreted to mean the world we know and live in and about which all philosophers wonder. Thus for the philosopher - whoever he be - the concern of his interest is not limited to any particular segment of reality and no thing is off-limits to the beams of his mental radar. Yet this scope seems to many too vast and proud an enterprise. The philosopher seems to leap upon his horse and ride off in all directions at once. He is the day dreamer who indulges in fantasy and escapes from the world of practical concern and anxiety. On the other hand the reflective person must concede that it is the ideas ofthe philosophers more than the strategems of the generals that have shaped history and destinies.

This second volume of the Boston College Studies in Philosophy com­ memorates the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx. This dedication bespeaks the evolution permeating the entire world today, not only in the sense of a development of ideas but more especially of the inner and sincere quest for peace intensifying in the hearts of all men. We Christians rejoice in the drive onward toward the fulfillment of peace on earth. We are sorry, however, that it is so late in Christian history and that it received its impulse more from the fear of nuclear armaments than from the development of Christian ideas. Nonetheless, here in the midst of so much bewilderment, we an optimistic note in the realization that these ideas can now, touch at long last, offer hope for a peaceful future. Strange as it may seem, there is currently a new interest in the philosophy of Marxism. This stems in part from the renewed study of the writings of the young Marx and a concentration on that aspect of his work which is more philosophical than politico-economic, such as is more prominent in the later Das Kapital. But even more, our interest in Marxism has occurred because of what has happened to the con­ temporary Marxists themselves. First of all, after Stalin's time a certain new openness, not yet perfect but nonetheless real, has developed in Russia to the benefit of scholars.

It seems evident to anyone giving thought to the matter, that at the root of contemporary social ruptures lies an attack on the theory and practice of authority. Marcuse's philosophy could be equated with anti-authoritarianism. His anti-establishment theses cut deeply into the roots of every contemporary institutional structure, whether it be the giant military governmental complex, the family, the universities, or simply the "status quo. " His Critical Philosophy has apparent roots in the Frankfurt School of Social Research and in the early Marxist revisionists like Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Kautsky, all of which In fact, the main point of philosophical thinking is anti-authoritarian. Feuerbach'sEssenceo/Christianity is an attempt to demythologize all authoritarian structures by centering the attack against the belief in a real God and in the institutionalized structures that defend such a belief. Furthermore, ethicians and political scientists over the centuries have been vague in their treatment of the notion of authority. The old scholastic textbooks referred to authority as the "form" of society; the newer ones omitted the point altogether. Even Professor Carl J. Fried­ rich's volume in the "Nomos" series (I958) entitled "Authority" did not venture further back with any depth beyond the post-Reformation era. The "Syntopicon", a nugget of philosophical concepts in the tra­ dition of the West, has no special topic on "authority. " This is strange in the light of what has happened.

This volume is the fourth of aseries of the Boston College Studies in Philosophy. The series has attempted to publish articles on a more or less common theme, affecting contemporary problems in philosophy. The first volume entitled: The Quest tor the Absolute, was comprised of articles showing the relevance of classical, patristic and medieval thinkers to the God problem. The second volume entitled: Demytholo­ gizing Marxism, presented articles revolving around the theme of the Christi an -Marxist dialogue. The third vol urne en titled : A uthority, offered articles analyzing this notion from a philosophical point of view. In the present volume, there is hope of furthering dialogue by pre­ senting views on certain key topics from the Marxist point of view. Many philosophers would agree that basic to dialogue, is some kind of necessary agreement on the epistemological question of realism versus idealism. Marxist philosophers are firmly rooted in the realist tradition and, to my mind, this point should be stressed in our philo­ sophical discussions. Thus the topics discussed in the present volume emphasize the realism of contemporary Marxists as opposed to a trend toward subjectivity that is manifested in much that emanates from existential and analytical schools. It is this emphasis that, in my opinion, forms the unity of this volume as will be realized from the authors' discussions of such topics as universal ideas, theory of meaning, freedom and conscience.

This present volume of the Boston College Studies in Philosophy presents thematically a commentary on the articles that appeared in the preceding issue of this series. In Volume IV, under the title Philoso­ phical Investigations in the USSR, there appeared six articles by contemporary Soviet philosophers on topics of concern for those in­ terested in philosophical dialogue. An interesting introduction was prepared by Professor L. Mitrokhin, head of the department of Con­ temporary Western Philosophy of the Institute of Philosophy of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In his introduction, Professor Mitrokhin presented biographical data concerning the Soviet authors and listed their major research and publications in their respective fields. I would like to quote from Professor Mitrokhin's introduction to indicate to the reader something about the general themes and impor­ tance of that volume and to urge those who have not yet investigated its content to do so, not only because it is quite necessary as background for this volume, but also because of the light those articles shed on the developments that are occurring in Soviet philosophical thinking. Hence allow me to quote: " ... I regard this special edition represented by a number of articles written by Soviet philosophers as an extremely useful and symptomatic matter. Soviet philosophy has greatly changed during the past decade. New talented scholars have appeared introducing their individual style, problems and ways of thinking.