A new phenomenological Marxism

Abstract

Every generation of modern philosophy sets for itself the task of reinvent? ing the master thinkers of its tradition. In this century, this phenomenon has been borne out by repeated substantial reinterpretations of Marx, par? ticularly so in France where since 1945 emergent philosophical movements have infused new philosophical concepts into Marxism. As hermeneutics informs us, such infusion is a condition for the possibility of the continued vitality of any tradition, whether political, philosophical or otherwise. This interplay with other philosophical movements and their new vocabularies has been a particular strength of Western European, non-orthodox Marxism. "Existential" Marxism in France is perhaps the greatest expression of the lack of orthodoxy in Western Marxism.1 Its most influential works came after World War II, written by Merleau-Ponty and Sartre in the face of the situation of post-War Europe. The various versions of Existential Marxism influenced the interpretation of Marx in the entire post-war generation and introduced a rich phenomenological vocabulary into historical materialism, replacing its abstract, large-scale sociological descriptions with ones more adequate to phenomena of subjectivity, intersubjectivity and everyday life. However, with the rise of Althusser and now post-structuralism, the influence of existentialism has waned considerably. Against the trend toward anti-humanism in reaction to phenomenology and existentialism, Henry's work represents a revitalization of this important Western Marxist philosophical tradition, informing it with the criticism of Western metaphysics that has been developed by Levinas and Heidegger. While in some ways it is a return to this older movement, Henry's book is more importantly a new phenomenological Marxism appropriate to the contem? porary philosophical situation in France. Existential Marxism fell out of favor primarily because of its humanism.