Customer Reviews

The Communist Ideal in Hegel and Marx

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is valuable because it compares Hegel and Marx better than Marx or any of his followers could have done. Professor David MacGregor is sympathetic to the Marxist project, but he is willing to suspend Marx's criticism of Hegel in an effort to harmonize the two thinkers.Professor MacGregor excels in his knowledge of both thinkers, and he quotes from Hegel literally hundreds of times in a superior scholarship. I have a few minor criticisms of this book: (1) the title is inappropriate because there simply is no 'communist ideal' in Hegel. Hegel advocated private property as the foundation for Law itself. Hegel was not a capitalist, though, and perhaps this is what is being stressed here -- Hegel advocated taxation in order to support a civil servant class, a universal class, which would regulate industry. (I believe the title was selected by the publisher, not the author); (b) Hegel did not say of Marx, 'only one person understood me, and even he has not,' rather, Fichte said that about Schelling.In all, my criticisms are few. Professor MacGregor's ability to harmonize the essential spirit of Hegel with the best ideas of Marx is challenged by his project, and he succeeds better than anybody else. His latest book, HEGEL AND MARX AFTER THE FALL OF COMMUNISM (1998) is a good sequel.

This publication, THE COMMUNIST IDEAL IN HEGEL AND MARX (University of Toronto, 1984, 295 pages) is a real surprise.

I say, 'surprise,' since the title of this book runs directly contrary to my reading of Hegel, but Professor MacGregor rightly insists that our debates about Hegel's politics be founded strictly upon our encounter with Hegel's texts.

1. Professor MacGregor may surprise many with his opening words,

"This study is an attempt to rescue Hegel's thought from the interpretation imposed on it by Marx." (D. MacGregor, CIHM, p. 11)

2. Professor MacGregor cites sources to irrevocably vindicate my own long-standing claim that Feuerbach's reading of Hegel is misleading,

"Unfortunately, even tragically, the ingenious transformative critique of Hegel pioneered by Feuerbach was simply wrong." (D. MacGregor, ibid, p. 21)

3. Professor MacGregor provides a rich body of quotations to contrast Marx's dualist portrait of class conflict between bourgeoisie and proletariat with Hegel's trinitarian portrait of class conflict between agribusiness, manufacture and civil service, citing Hegel's PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT, paragraphs 202-208. He writes:

"Hegel delineates three major class groupings in civil society: the *business* class of capitalists and workers, the *agricultural* class of nobles and peasants, and the *universal* class of civil servants." (D. MacGregor, ibid, p. 30)

This line of thought opens up a fruitful new domain of debate, until now unknown to all but the most academic.

4. Prof. David MacGregor's THE COMMUNIST IDEAL IN HEGEL AND MARX is extremely valuable because it is an extraordinary 20th century thesis that provides within 259 pages of text no less than 500 quotations by Hegel himself. Some quotations are footnoted with more citations, totaling more than 800 Hegel quotations and citations in all.

By focusing so strongly upon Hegel's texts, Professor MacGregor has established a new standard for Hegel/Marx studies. It seems to me that the appropriate way to revive G.W.F. Hegel, the sleeping giant, is to begin with the rigorous textual approach that Professor David MacGregor has provided in this important new study.

As one may imagine, my criticisms of his book are far from complete. For the present I will content myself with pointing out the positive aspects of his fine book. By focusing so strongly upon Hegel's texts, and by distancing himself from Feuerbach and Marx at the outset, Preofessor MacGregor has assured us that his revelation of Hegel's ideas will be fresh; different from nearly every other modern work.