A Failed Parricide: Hegel and the Young Marx

Historical Materialism #116

by Roberto Finelli, Peter Thomas (Translation)

According to an established interpretation, the transition from Hegel's materialism to Marx's materialism signifies a progressive development from an abstract-idealist theory of becoming, to a theory of the concrete actions of human beings within history. A Failed Parricide by Roberto Finelli offers an innovative reading of the Marx-Hegel relationship, arguing that the young Marx remained structurally subaltern to Hegel's distinctive conception of the subject that becomes itself in relation to alterity. Marx's early critique of Hegel is represented as a 'failed parricide', relying upon an organicist and spiritualist anthropology derived from Feuerbach's presumed materialism. Only in Marx's mature critique of political economy will he be able to return to this 'primal scene' and produce a distinctive theory of the role of formal determinations in social and political modernity.

First published in Italian by Bollati Borighieri Editore as Un parricidio mancato. Il rapporto tra Hegel e il giovane Marx , Turin, 2004.

Genres: Philosophy, History

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Western Marxists can say what they will about the vapidity and dogmatism of Soviet Marxist texts, and sometimes I agree, but at least they attempted to make them understandable. Finelli's prose is more obscurantist than Hegel or the "young" Marx. Thomas should have written a translator's preface or something. The chapter on Feuerbach is very good, though.

[Christopher Carrico · Rating 5 out of 5]

It will take me some time to figure out whether I agree with the main arguments of the book. Also, I think that I can't really definitively pass judgement on A Failed Parricide until I've read its sequel, A Completed Parricide, which hasn't been translated into English yet. I'm giving this 5 stars not as an endorsement of all of its conclusions, but rather because I think it raises some very productive questions, and because I learned a lot from reading it.