History and Class Consciousness (Studies on Marxist Dialectics)

Author: Lukács
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-01-01
Features: "History and Class Consciousness" is one of the most influential, controversial, and perhaps most important of all the philosophical works by the great Hungarian thinker Lukács (1885-1971). "History and Class Consciousness" is a multi-layered philosophical work, or rather a work of political philosophy. The entire work is imbued with the idea that the true philosophical significance of Marxism, which was forgotten and distorted by the leaders of the Second International, must be restored. Lukács delves deeply into his understanding of a series of extremely important philosophical issues concerning Marxism and its dialectical essence, proposes his interpretation of history and its subject as well as the problem of reification, and clarifies the historical role of the proletariat and its class consciousness. The concept of history proposed by Lukács in "History and Class Consciousness" is the central concept he uses to transform the natural ontology of old materialism and overcome the idealism of Hegel's "absolute idea" as both substance and subject.