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The Philosophy Of Marx (Radical Thinkers Book 8) Kindle Edition

by Etienne Balibar (Author), Chris Turner (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
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Providing a lucid and accessible introduction to Marx, complete with pedagogical boxes, a chronology and guides to further reading, Etienne Balibar makes the most difficult areas of his philosophy easy to understand. One of the most influential French philosophers to have emerged from the 1960s, Balibar brings a lifetime of study and expertise to create a brilliantly concise portrait of Marx that will initiate the student and intrigue the scholar.

He examines all the key areas of Marx’s writings, including his early works, The Communist Manifesto, The German Ideology and Capital, explaining their wider historical and theoretical context. Making clear such concepts as class struggle, ideology, humanism, progress, determinism, commodity fetishism and the state, Balibar includes brief yet incisive biographical studies of key Marxists such as Althusser, Gramsci, Engels and Lenin.

The Philosophy of Marx will become the standard guide to Marx’s thought.
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  1. Print length
    145 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Verso
  5. Publication date
    January 7, 2014
  6. File size
    3079 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A very intelligent and creative work—succinct and informative; it explores the ways in which Marxism as such challenges traditional philosophy (and the problems the latter possesses for it). It would certainly have a privileged place on the shelf of contemporary studies of Marx.”—Fredric Jameson

“A trenchant and exciting analysis of the philosophy of Marx. It is intelligent and original, and makes us understand the ways in which reading Marx lucidly can be very useful to us today. No dogma here and no banalities. A refreshing book.”—Immanuel Wallerstein

About the Author

Étienne Balibar is a French Marxist philosopher and the most celebrated student of Louis Althusser. He is also one of the leading exponents of French Marxist philosophy and the author of Spinoza and Politics, The Philosophy of Marx and co-author of Race, Nation and Class and Reading Capital.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00DXKJ6MM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso (January 7, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3079 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 145 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

About the author

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Etienne Balibar

Etienne Balibar

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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
24 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

hume
5.0 out of 5 stars cuts through the smoke
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2007
pellucid, even. clear and concise. a return to marx, away from marxism. this would be the perfect text to use at the end of a course on marx(ism)-- subsumes all other critiques whilst returning to the original texts themselves. if that does convince you: it's a cheap and easy read! buy it now! (plus, cool cover art).
4 people found this helpful
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Steiner
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Clear
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2010
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Etienne Balibar's brief exegesis of Marxian theory is a lucid, but by no means dumbed-down account of the major problems and ideas in what is now called 'Marxism.' Balibar moves through the major concepts as a seasoned veteran of the ENS-his writing on ideology and history is particularly articulate. In addition, there are wonderful little snapshots of the major Marxian thinkers-from Gramsci to Althusser. Although many might object to the importation of 'ontology' in this interpretation, Balibar has still produced an invaluable resource.
6 people found this helpful
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Steven
1.0 out of 5 stars Poor spine
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2019
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Multiple pages in the chapter "Marxist Philosophy or Marx's Philosophy" are falling out of the book.
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Pooja Satyogi
5.0 out of 5 stars new book
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2008
I am happy to have ordered this book from this book seller. It came in time and good copy. I had ordered a new book and I got a new book.
One person found this helpful
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James Kalomiris, The Peripatetic Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Fails in its Stated Purpose.
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2014
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Balibar’s book on Marxian philosophy opens with the stated purpose of answering whether Marx’s philosophy is still relevant in the 21st Century. This would have been a great book, perhaps the greatest book, of Marxian philosophy had this question actually been answered, or at least given his answer. Instead, Balibar engages in a penetrating, deep analysis of the principal features of Marx’s philosophy, judged against the historical and philosophical currents of his time. It is as if he stated the purpose of the book and then flew off in a tangent, never to visit the stated purpose of the book again.

Three stars are given for the book because while Balibar avoided his own stated purpose, the analysis of Marx’s philosophy is masterful. Those tenets are examined in light of Continental philosophy and its preoccupation of the subject. This is really a book of a history of ideas, and not philosophy per se. He gives valuable insights into other contemporary philosophers such as Kant and Stirner, and explains how they and others meld into the development of Marx’s ideas.

It would have been better had Balibar stuck to the subject and explained why Marx is relevant to the 21st Century. A book giving this explanation is sorely needed.
5 people found this helpful
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Curt
4.0 out of 5 stars solid commentary on Marx
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2016
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Balibur's is a good commentary on the impossible-to-pin-down-but-essential Marx.
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ndlawyer
2.0 out of 5 stars More Essay than Explication
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2012
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The title is misleading. This book is an excellent essay about Marx that places his thought in historical context. Beyond that, however, it leaves much to be desired. I found it to be only an historical introduction to Marx that failed to provide any focused overview of his ideas. Aside from the cursory mention of other philosophers and very brief allusions to their ideas, there is little here for anyone hoping for an explication of Marx's philosophy. In short, I found the book light on content and difficult to read. I was very disappointed and chose not to add it to my library. If you are looking for a clear and concise discussion of the philosophy of Marx, this book is not a good investment.
6 people found this helpful
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Malvin
3.0 out of 5 stars Difficult, unfocused but oddly useful
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2018
“The Philosophy of Marx” by Etienne Balibar is a difficult, unfocused but oddly useful introduction to the philosophy of Marx. Mr. Balibar is a world-renowned scholar who has updated the text for a timely reissue by Verso Books. Readers who are seeking to understand Marx will find many insightful passages but may be frustrated by the author’s tendency to drift.

Mr. Balibar contextualizes the life and time of Marx to help us understand the purpose of his writings. We learn that Marx was, more than anything else, an activist philosopher whose ideals were intended to not interpret the world, but to change it for the better. For that reason, Marx sought to prove that humanity’s essence was defined by its ever-changing real-world material and social relations (not a spiritual abstraction of an imagined world). History turns on the struggle between the ruling class who owns the means of production and the working class. And so on.

The trouble is that Mr. Balibar doesn’t structure the lesson in a way that is easy to understand. As Mr. Balibar moves from one subject to the next, he introduces us to various critics of Marx’ philosophy; taking us down many discussion paths for no clear purpose. In that sense, the book comes across as a random collection of scholarly articles instead of an intentional learning program. It’s a shame because Mr. Balibar certainly knows the subject well.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Pl deliver the replacement book and take the defective book.
Reviewed in India on January 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
Please deliver the replacement book and take the defective book.
The new book (in replacement) has not been delivered today. Pl deliver it tomorrow in lieu of the defective book.
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Ms. Raquel Vieira
1.0 out of 5 stars Not an introduction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2021
Verified Purchase
I don't know very much about the philosophy of Marx and was looking for an introduction to the subject. The back cover of this book describes it as "the best available introduction ... of the past 200 years". This book is not an introductory text to the ideas of Karl Marx. Balibar assumes that you have read Marx, Engels, Althusser, Feuerbach and Lefebvre and are already knowledgeable of their ideas. I was disappointed to find that I was mis-sold the content of this book. Having read the book, I found the writing to be unnecessarily pretentious and circuitous. Admittedly, this may have been due to my ignorance, but I did find this book to be quite inaccessible. Also, the pages fall out of the book the moment the cover gets opened.
One person found this helpful
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