CRISIS CONSCIOUSNESS
IN CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY

by
András Gedö

Marxist Educational Press
Minneapolis

Studies in Marxism, Vol. 11

Published by

MARXIST EDUCATIONAL PRESS
c/o Anthropology Department
University of Minnesota
215 Ford Hall, 224 Church St. S. E.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 U.S.A.

Revised English-Language Edition
Copyright © Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, German Democratic Republic,
and Marxist Educational Press, Minneapolis, 1982

Original edition published in German under the title
Philosophie der Krise
Copyright © Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, German Democratic Republic, 1978

Scientific consultant: Jorg Schreiter
Translated by Salomea Genin
Edited by Doris Grieser Marquit

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Gedo, Andras.
Crisis Consciousness in Contemporary Philosophy
(Studies in Marxism; v. 11)
Translation of: Philosophie der Krise.
Includes index.
1. Philosophy, Modern - 20th century. 2. Ideology.
I. Title. 11. Series: Studies in Marxism (Marxist Educational Press); v. 11.
B804. G3513 190 81-8338
ISBN 0-930656-21-0 AACR2
ISBN 0-930656-22-9 (pbk.)

Printed in the German Democratic Republic 1982

Publisher’s Note 7

Author’s Preface 9

CHAPTER ONE. Two Aspects of Bourgeois Crisis Consciousness 13

CHAPTER TWO. The Contemporary Crisis in Bourgeois Philosophy 20
1. Neopositivism: linguistic philosophy and critical rationalism 20
2. Life philosophy (Lebensphilosophie) 34

CHAPTER THREE. The Structure of Late-Bourgeois Philosophy and Types of Apology 53
1. The rise of crisis consciousness 53
2. The myth of crisis and life philosophy 69
3. “Social technology” and positivism 86[-103]
          [On Max Weber: 86-92, 236-238]
          [On Karl Popper: 100-103, 241-242]

CHAPTER FOUR. Historical Shifts in Crisis Consciousness 104

CHAPTER FIVE. Crisis and Crisis Consciousness Today 140

CHAPTER SIX. Dialectical Materialism versus Philosophical Crisis Consciousness 177

CHAPTER SEVEN. From Bourgeois Philosophy to Marxism 188

NOTES 206

INDEX OF NAMES 284

András Gedö — Vita (Bibliography)

“The Contemporary Attack on Science” by András Gedö

“The Historical Character of the Concept of Nature” by András Gedö

“Why Marx or Nietzsche?” by András Gedö

Positivism vs Life Philosophy (Lebensphilosophie) Study Guide