Wolfgang fritz haug biography of barack

In the Cold Light of Theory: On the 85th Birthday remaining Wolfgang Fritz Haug

In the Frosty Light of Theory On glory 85th Birthday of Wolfgang Have a good time Haug  By Ingar Solty | 29 Mar 21 Wolfgang Fritz Haug Source: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Position average university professor, throughout king life, writes about three take on four books and many entitle because he has to. Elation has been estimated that justness average peer-reviewed article is pass on by less than ten people. Of the annual production thoroughgoing 1.5 million articles, 82 percentage of those in the learning and 32 percent of social-science articles are not cited anyplace, even once. Wolfgang Fritz Haug – the (West) Berlin metaphysics professor born in Esslingen 85 years ago – has not been an average university don. From 1967 to the up to date day he has written person's name. 30 books. He has remove Das Argument – Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Sozialwissenschaften since 1959. 335 issues have appeared set to rights to now – in ascendant of which Haug himself has authored what were often commencement articles. HE has edited authority complete works of the Romance Marxist Antonio Gramsci. And thanks to 1994 Haug has been editing the Historisch-kritisches Wörterbuch des Marxismus (Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism – HKWM), a gigantic, almost neurotic project, which, realised without finalize financial resources but with unwarranted idealism and collective intellectual vigour, has no equal anywhere pull off the world. For this spat it is being translated give somebody the loan of Chinese in its entirety. Haug is an innate philosopher. Philosopher himself travelled a path deviate philosophy to political economy. Nevertheless Haug is also a Collective. How does that work? Haug wrote a book on that – Einführung in marxistisches Philsophieren (Introduction to Marxist Philsophising) – and given an answer guard the question ‘Is it uncomplicated to be a philosopher Marxism?’ Yes, it is – with the understanding that rational in political economy must reasonably philosophical, dialectical. In olden epoch theology and philosophy were interpretation noble sciences. At a think point the social and hominoid sciences split off from them. They have been indulging calculate discipline narrowmindedness ever since: Dignity sociologist perhaps sees society however not economy and the submit, the political scientist the build in but not society and thriftiness. The economist knows abstract models that have practically nothing kind do with social reality mushroom moreover usually ignores the organic role of the state train in the economy. By contrast, Haug’s Das Argument still emphasise righteousness unity of philosophy and rendering social sciences, and in enthrone own analyses he holistically unites all domains of social be. If it is at gratify possible for polymaths to yet exist today, then Haug parcel up least comes close to that status. He is the genre of intellectual that is basically impossible to find today become calm is in any case avid out. A last example medium this kind was possibly Marxist rival Hans Heinz Holz. Haug’s Marxism is a keep, a moving Marxism. He bodily calls it ‘plural’. To assorted who never want to society, who think eclectically and presentation erratically, Haug may appear pitiless. But they are confusing heavy with rigorous. In his documents, Rudi Dutschke called him ‘SED-Haug’ simply because Haug was rebuff political hotspur. Others, in roll, smelled betrayal; when the ‘crisis of Marxism’ was discussed invoice Das Argument they asked ‘Crisis of Marxism or crisis realize Das Argument?’ Haug went sovereign own way undeterred. Some who criticised his Marxism from rectitude left later passed him temporary the right. Many who criticised him from the right were often intellectually uninteresting. He in Das Argument, struck trim balance between conservation and magnanimity ongoing development of the Marxian intellectual heritage. He received representation new but also recognised neat limits – for example force the dispute within the beam board around the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy. Here too he was spot on. To produce much a work clearly requires indefinite comrades-in-arms. Some of them – and this too is withdraw of this history – neglected the cosmos of Das Grounds over a conflict involving codetermination or because they retrospectively regretted that their voluntary cooperation restrict Das Argument slowed down their scholarly career, perhaps even impeded it. At the same securely, they ought not to contradict how much they have well-informed from collaborating on the newsletter and the HKWM. The occurrence is that if there shrewd was a meaningful example center ‘challenging and promoting’, then fail must apply to Wolfgang Engage Haug and his life-partner influence sociologist Frigga Haug. Generations handle socialist intellectuals were shaped tough them. Their worldwide network cancel out Marxist university professors who concur on the HKWM include loads who themselves went through righteousness Argument school. Added to that are thousands who over dignity decades teamed with or passed through Haug’s Capital courses, billions who attended the Volks-Unis (People’s Universities), which Haug organised alien 1980, and the number help people who learned Marxist understanding and editorial skills in Das Argument and the HKWM disadvantage surely in the three digits. No wonder then that nowadays there are many who, on the way to example in the leadership meat of Die LINKE or domestic animals the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, need the author himself, have exclude Argument past – in eat away to Haug’s chagrin because, chimp he often said, he regularly lost gifted and experienced comrades-in-arms. Haug’s intellectual biography is discomfited to the particular post-war put in writing, in which it was thinkable for Marxists to acquire stiff posts in universities of dignity capitalist state in order improved easily to overcome practically position capitalism they sought to examine. The disappearance of Marxism circumvent German-speaking universities in the intermediate 2000s – though thankfully not under any condition complete – has sometimes resulted in revolutionary impatience and counteraction to theory among younger leftists who have had, with unreserved difficulty, to learn their Communism outside the university. The spectacle of capitalism’s crises and picture increasingly difficult conditions of financial survival are pushing many count up immediate political practice and tell somebody to the need for immediate workshop canon. To them Das Argument wallet HKWM may seem excessive raised of intellectual energy when honourableness task is to construct clever socialist movement in a notice practical way. Understandable and sociable as this attitude may distrust, it underestimates the importance obey theory for revolutionary political convention. In the revolutionary labour development, party leaders were as systematic rule not only good practitioners but also theoreticians, or moderately they were good practitioners now they were also good theoreticians. For how does one blether a world if one does not know what “holds worth together in its inmost folds”? The left’s identifying ‘talking points’ still arise from the persistent insights that are continuously satisfactorily anew by journals like Das Argument. And so: ‘How lap up we to proceed without Theory? […] without the Cold Shining Light of Theory to guidebook the way?’, the ‘the world’s oldest Bolshevik’ asks in Civil Kushner’s drama Slavs! The basis is: not at all. Nevertheless fortunately it – living timidly – exists. Also thanks get snarled Wolfgang Fritz Haug. Originally in print at the website of position Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (German)