Autonomy within Heteronomy: Doing Marxist Philosophy in Late Stalinism

• In Event: The Question of Autonomy in the Late-Stalin-Era Humanities

Abstract

Late Stalinism represents a period in the history of Marxism when the fundamental questions were asked again: What is Marxism? Does it consist in certain conception, or set of theorems, or solely in a dialectical method, etc. The paper addresses the issue of relative autonomy of Marxist philosophy in Late Stalinism, focusing on the unresolvable contradictions present in the self-conception of Marxist philosophers. It assumes that it resulted either into paralysis, or into conceptual creativity, as shall be discussed on case of the debates concerning Marxist orthodoxy and critiques of revisionism.

Author

• Ivan Landa, Inst of Philosophy CAS (Czech Republic)