My friend Daniel Bastiat tagged me on Facebook for a new 7-day challenge: Pick between 2 to 5 books that you would assign for any course of your choosing (each day) and name the course.
Day #4 Course: The Individual and Society: Marxist Perspectives
(For undergraduate- and graduate-level students)
- Reader in Marxist Philosophy – Edited by Howard Selsam and Harry Martel
- Essentialism in the Thought of Karl Marx – Scott Meikle
- Marx, Reason, and the Art of Freedom – Kevin Brien
- Marx’s Social Ontology: Individuality and Community in Marx’s Theory of Social Reality – Carol C. Gould (pdf copy)
- Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society – Bertell Ollman
Postcript (30 August 2020): I added this comment to the Facebook discussion:
These [books] are interpretations of Marx’s work that speak to the theme of the proposed mini-course on “The Individual and Society.” I think they are among the best interpreters of Marx’s social theory out there. Alienation by my mentor (Bertell Ollman) is the best book ever written on that subject and offers the finest, most insightful discussion of that concept in all the secondary literature on Marx. And many folks will be surprised by the themes of the other three books I’ve highlighted in the secondary literature (Gould, Brien, and especially Meikle)—which spend a lot of time uncovering an important Aristotelian dimension to Marx’s understanding of human nature. All very fine, challenging, thought-provoking books.
