Zer0 Books and Repeater Media Ernst Bloch's Utopian Marxism: A New Hope with Jon Greenaway
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Apr 30, 2024 Jon Greenaway, an author and scholar specializing in Ernst Bloch and utopian philosophy, dives into the relevance of Bloch's ideas today. They explore hope as a philosophical foundation, contrasting it with mere optimism, while emphasizing the importance of a hopeful Marxist outlook. Greenaway unpacks Bloch's concepts of non-synchronicity and the 'not-yet,' alongside the political dimensions of desire and imagination. He connects Bloch's thought to Gothic Marxism, highlighting haunting historical dislocations and the ongoing struggle for transformative futures.
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Utopia As Here-And-Not-Here
- Ernst Bloch defines utopia as a place that is "here and not here," a future possibility already primed in the present world.
- Hope is a historical, collective agency, not mere optimism, and must be thought philosophically to guide politics.
Hope Rooted In Philosophy Not Feeling
- Jon Greenaway argues Bloch grounds hope in rigorous philosophical commitments rather than only subjective moods or political wins.
- For Bloch, disappointment refines hope instead of nullifying it, keeping fidelity to utopian processuality.
No Right To Marxist Pessimism
- Bloch rejects pessimism as accepting the immediate facts and naturalizing the present order.
- A Marxist "doesn't have a right to be a pessimist" because matter and history remain processual and open.
