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person1885-1971

Georg Lukács

Disciplines:
aesthetics
philosophy/philosophy of history
political philosophy/marxist philosophy

Summary

Hungarian Marxist philosopher who developed the concept of reification — social relations appearing as thing-like objective forces — and the theory of class consciousness in History and Class Consciousness.

Core Contribution

Reification: under capitalism, social relations between persons appear as objective relations between commodities — commodity fetishism pervades all social life. Class consciousness: the proletariat can achieve a standpoint from which the totality of capitalist society becomes transparent. Totality is the methodological principle of Marxist dialectics.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • History and Class Consciousness was condemned by the Comintern and Lukács spent the rest of his life recanting and re-recanting its heterodox conclusions.
  • Developed the theory of the novel as the art form of transcendental homelessness — the epic hero's cosmic home is gone, and the novel traces the individual's search for meaning in a world abandoned by God.

Notable Works & Achievements

History and Class Consciousness

The Theory of the Novel

The Destruction of Reason

The Ontology of Social Being

Historical Influences

G.W.F. Hegel Karl Marx Max Weber

Intellectual Lineage

Hegelian Marxism German Idealism Weber's Sociology

Contemporaries & Peers

Karl Korsch Antonio Gramsci Max Weber

Minds Influenced

Theodor Adorno Cornelius Castoriadis Guy Debord

Intellectual Posterity

ReificationWestern Marxism Totality

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