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Beyond Leviathan: Critique of the State
A field-defining masterwork, this posthumous publication maps the evolution of the idea of the state from ancient Greece to today
István Mészáros was one of the greatest political theorists of the twentieth century. Left unfinished at the time of his death, Beyond Leviathan is written on the magisterial scale of his previous book, Beyond Capital, and meant to complement that work. It focuses on the transcendence of the state, along with the transcendence of capital and alienated labor, while traversing the history of political theory from Plato to the present. Aristotle, More, Machiavelli, and Vico are only a few of the thinkers discussed in depth. The larger objective of this work is no less than to develop a full-edged critique of the state, in the Marxian tradition, and set against the critique of capital. Not only does it provide, for the first time, an all-embracing Marxian theory of the state, it gives new political meaning to the notion of "the withering away of the state." In his definitive, seminal work, Mészáros seeks to illuminate the political preconditions for a society of substantive equality and substantive democracy.
István Mészáros was one of the greatest political theorists of the twentieth century. Left unfinished at the time of his death, Beyond Leviathan is written on the magisterial scale of his previous book, Beyond Capital, and meant to complement that work. It focuses on the transcendence of the state, along with the transcendence of capital and alienated labor, while traversing the history of political theory from Plato to the present. Aristotle, More, Machiavelli, and Vico are only a few of the thinkers discussed in depth. The larger objective of this work is no less than to develop a full-edged critique of the state, in the Marxian tradition, and set against the critique of capital. Not only does it provide, for the first time, an all-embracing Marxian theory of the state, it gives new political meaning to the notion of "the withering away of the state." In his definitive, seminal work, Mészáros seeks to illuminate the political preconditions for a society of substantive equality and substantive democracy.
512 pages, Paperback
Published February 22, 2022
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About the author
István Mészáros
58 books61 followersIstván Mészáros was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher. Described as "one of the foremost political philosophers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries" by Monthly Review, Mészáros wrote mainly about the possibility of a transition from capitalism to socialism.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 31, 2022
An important expansion of Meszaros' thought on the State, the importance of the political command system as it relates to material determinations, and the requirement of its withering away to break the gravitational pull of capital. Meszaros emphasized more than I remember in past books the risk of interstate conflicts and full-out war as we continue to push the boundaries of the expansion of capital, not to mention ecological limits.
"Capital’s clearly identifiable destructive power in the material domain could not be defeated in its own limited terms of reference in the materially productive sphere alone. The epochal sustainability of the state’s decision-making power and the material preponderance of capital’s mode of social metabolic control stood and could only fall together. This is what had set the fundamental emancipatory task—and continues to set it for the future as well—until it is successfully accomplished."
"Capital’s clearly identifiable destructive power in the material domain could not be defeated in its own limited terms of reference in the materially productive sphere alone. The epochal sustainability of the state’s decision-making power and the material preponderance of capital’s mode of social metabolic control stood and could only fall together. This is what had set the fundamental emancipatory task—and continues to set it for the future as well—until it is successfully accomplished."
October 20, 2024
Mészáros apresenta uma leitura interessante do projeto marxista de superação do Estado - não só do estado capitalista -, apresenta bem a urgência desta superação e chega a dar indícios de como essa ela poderia ocorrer mas não chegou a desenvolver totalmente essa possibilidade antes de falecer com a obra incompleta. Entretanto o estilo do autor torna a leitura cansativa, como bem sabe quem já leu ou tentou ler o seu "Para além do capital". Esse, ao menos é mais curto e o tamanho da fonte é um pouco maior.
Leia se você for um marxista convicto e estiver buscando contato de menos de 1000 páginas com o pensamento de Mészáros.
Leia se você for um marxista convicto e estiver buscando contato de menos de 1000 páginas com o pensamento de Mészáros.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews