Abstract
We have already seen not only that it is legitimate to look for psychic processes common to all human individuals in Marx’s theorizing, but that it is probably necessary to do so if one wants to fully understand his theorizing. For example, it has been shown that Marx regarded the relative independence of capitalist relations of production from the conscious control of individuals to itself depend upon these individuals’ indifference toward each other and their own labour. This indifference must be explained psycho-logically — at least in good part — and presumably such an explanation must in turn rely heavily upon assumptions about human nature in general.
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Notes
To my mind, Lucien Sève’s massive volume (Man in Marxist Theory and the Psychology of Personality (Sussex/New Jersey: Harvester/Humanities Press, 1978)) is at least as misleading as it is helpful, because he never really breaks with the Althusserians he sets out to critique, and in the process misrepresents Marx as having dispensed with the concepts of need and alienation, and as having derogated consciousness much more than was the case.
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© 1989 W. Peter Archibald
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Archibald, W.P. (1989). Introduction. In: Marx and the Missing Link: “Human Nature”. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09184-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09184-3_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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