Marx's Initial Problematic: The Problem of Poverty

In: Political studies, Band 24, Heft 1, S. 24-42

Abstract

What kind of initial problematic arose for Marx is examined through analysis of two articles he wrote in the Rheinische Zeitung (1842-43) -- "Proceedings of the Sixth Rhenish Diet. Debates on the Law of the Thefts of Wood," & "Vindication of Correspondent writing from the Mosel" (Marx, K., Engels, F., Werke, Berlin, 1956, 1, 109-147, 172-199). The place of this problematic in Marx's intellectual career is indicated. The problem of poverty in particular & the idea that Marx's treatment of it owes little enough to Hegel or Feuerbach in either formation or method are analyzed. The suppositions that Marx set out from a problematic at once empirically grounded & rooted in the practical, sociopolitical issues of the day, that he worked out his own concepts & methods by bringing empirical inquiry, theoretical analysis, & value premises to bear on one another, "from the first" are advanced. His turn to Hegel or Feuerbach for ideas is explained as his search for means by which to achieve a more sharply systematic formulation of problems that arose for him out of his initial sociopolitical problematic. The Marxian project as a whole is explained as an attempt from the first to found an empirically grounded & practical science of society rather than a speculative inversion of a ready-made philosophical world view. G. Briskin.