Marx's Metascience: A Dialogical Approach to his Thought

Abstract

Marx's work must be seen as a result of his practical context in which his political 'project' (in the wider existential sense) is most interesting. His political 'project' (i.e. his act of relating himself to interests of social groups and contexts etc.), must however be understood as nothing more than our abstraction and does not imply any theory of its inner structure of necessity. Marx's 'project' and theoretical 'problematique' at particular time in his development is an 'open' project and an open 'problematique' that has the potential of being formed differently according to his active interiorization of his practical situation and shifting contexts. The practical situation consists both of theoretical and philosophical traditions that he in an active way based his thought on - and social interests and forces which he attempted to join. Accordingly, we would like to approach the development of his thought in a 'critical realist' way (cf. R. Bhaskar) as a process of ‘structuration’ in which he actively structured his thought.Furthermore, as Marx's work is a result of an open project our own understanding is only a 'fusion' of our horizons and interests on the one side and Marx's horizons on the other side, as they appear to us. This does not mean that meaning of Marx's work is a result of imputation. Rather, it is an interpretation in the sense of 'dialogical hermenutics' (cf.H.-G. Gadamer). Knowledge and understanding is a matter of praxis.