ONLINE FIRST
published on September 19, 2024
R¨¹diger Dannemann
https://doi.org/10.5840/radphilrev2024918143
Georg Luk¨¢cs¡¯s Vision for an Institute for Historical Materialism in 1919 and 1923
In this paper I discuss Luk¨¢cs¡¯s lecture ¡°Functional Change of Historical Materialism¡± as a programmatic text that only rarely receives attention, offering an analysis that shows a connection with Horkheimer¡¯s equally programmatic and well known 1931 lecture on ¡°The Present Situation of Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research.¡± I show that an absolute focus on the reification essay alone is just as problematic as reducing Luk¨¢cs to an orthodox dogmatist. Above all, it should become clear that and to what extent a research institute that operates in the spirit of Luk¨¢cs could¡ªand should¡ªhave represented an alternative to the research institutions we know.