Historical materialism as mediation between the physical and the meaningful

The article argues that historical materialism is not only a theory of historical change but more generally a mediation between the natural foundations of human life and its meaningful symbolic expressions. The article begins with an interpretation of the general philosophical significance of the ba...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophy & social criticism Vol. 47; no. 9; pp. 1043 - 1059
Main Author Noonan, Jeff
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2021
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Historical materialism
Marxism
Materialism
Meaning
Mediation
reductionism
life-value
historical materialism
Marxism
physicalism
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The article argues that historical materialism is not only a theory of historical change but more generally a mediation between the natural foundations of human life and its meaningful symbolic expressions. The article begins with an interpretation of the general philosophical significance of the basic premises of historical materialism as they are sketched in the German Ideology. I argue that these premises point us in two different directions: down, towards a scientific understanding of the natural world, and up, towards interpretations of meaningful human expressions. Reductionist scientific models are appropriate for the understanding of natural forces, but these reveal their own limitations when applied to social life. Social life cannot be understood outside its symbolic expressions, but these are not free floating ideal abstractions, but remain connected to fundamental human purposes and must be understood as such.
ISSN:0191-4537
1461-734X
DOI:10.1177/0191453720919917