Christoph Schuringa, an Associate Professor at Northeastern University London, delves into Marx's intriguing relationship with philosophy in his new book. He argues Marx didn't abandon philosophy but aimed to actualize it for revolutionary purposes. Schuringa explores Marx's evolution from a philosopher influenced by Hegel to a proponent of historical materialism, emphasizing human agency in shaping history. He also discusses the practical implications of philosophy and Marx's call for revolutionary action as expressed in 'Capital,' revealing its ongoing relevance today.
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insights INSIGHT
Marx’s Philosophical Start and Break
Marx began as a philosopher and Young Hegelian but is often thought to break from philosophy later.
Some scholars see this as a rupture where Marx turns philosophy into a novel scientific activity.
insights INSIGHT
Marx’s Deep Hegelian Engagement
Marx stays philosophically true to Hegel’s idea of philosophy as unity of concept and reality.
Marx critiques Hegel’s dialectic as self-sufficient and develops a superior dialectic in Capital.
insights INSIGHT
Beyond Simple Hegelian Inversion
The idea Marx simply inverted Hegel’s dialectic oversimplifies Marx’s move to materialism.
Marx moves beyond Feuerbach’s unargued materialism to historicize human beings in society.
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Das Kapital is a comprehensive critique of capitalism written by Karl Marx. The work is divided into three volumes. Volume I, published in 1867, focuses on the production process of capital, introducing the concept of surplus value and the exploitation of labor. Volume II, published posthumously in 1885, examines the circulation of capital, while Volume III, published in 1894, discusses the capitalist process as a whole, including the internal differentiation of the capitalist class and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. Marx argues that capitalism is characterized by the exploitation of labor, leading to class conflict and eventual crises that necessitate the emergence of a new mode of production[1][4][5].
It is indisputable that Marx began his intellectual trajectory as a philosopher, but it is often thought that he subsequently turned away from philosophy. In Karl Marx and the Actualization of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2025), Christoph Schuringa proposes a radically different reading of Marx's intellectual project and demonstrates that from his earliest writings his aim was the 'actualization' of philosophy. Marx, he argues, should be understood not as turning away from philosophy, but as seeking to make philosophy a practical force in the world. By analysing a series of texts from across Marx's output, Schuringa shows that Marx progressively overcame what he called 'self-sufficient philosophy', not in order to leave philosophy behind but to bring it into its own. This involves a major reinterpretation of Marx's relationship to his ancestors Aristotle, Kant and Hegel, and shows that philosophy, as it actualizes itself, far from being merely a body of philosophical doctrine, figures as an instrument of the revolution.
Christoph Schuringa is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University London. He has published widely on the history of philosophy and on Marx and Marxism, and is editor of the Hegel Bulletin.
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