I never received formal education in the subject and I want to learn about it so that I may have a better understanding of the philosophy of our political tradition. I'd appreciate any suggestions on materials to get an introduction to the topic.
I never received formal education in the subject and I want to learn about it so that I may have a better understanding of the philosophy of our political tradition. I'd appreciate any suggestions on materials to get an introduction to the topic.
Was it you that recommended Elementary Principles to me a few months back? I finally got around to starting it and I'm a bit over halfway through and it's probably going to be my gold standard for understanding not only the pipeline between classical philosophy to Marxism, but it's also a way better resource imo for understanding Material and Historical Dialectics. It's so good and it's very easy to read.
I think so? I've recommended it before. Glad you like it! Read it over the course of a week and it expanded my knowledge of Marxist philosophy dramatically. It's extremely clear and tries to meet everyone, no academic language that might go over untrained heads, without getting dull.
It's absolutely filling in a few holes in my own reading. My former understanding was that Marx and Engels agreed with the conclusion of Hegel's work but not the meat and potatoes of it. This does a good job at answering a lot of the whys so far. Like I basically only knew Hegel, like most religious philosophers as an idealist, and Marx and Engels as Materialists, but outside of organized religion, I wasn't familiar with how those schools of thought evolved over time. Or the fact that Idealism still perpetuates itself in everything around us even today.
For me, 2 of the biggest aspects were the evolution of philosophy over time alongside Mode of Production, scientific developent, and technological development, as well as dialectics as comparing subjects within their contexts and trajectories. Massive change in understanding.
Sounds like the rest of the book is gonna be really good then.