Marx, the Body, and Human Nature

by Fox, John

• ISBN13: 9781137507976
• ISBN10: 1137507977
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-08-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Marx, the Body, and Human Nature demonstrates that prior considerations of Marx's works did not place a sufficient emphasis on the difficulties and promise of bodily experience. Fox provides a fresh 'take' on Marx, revealing how he drew on philosophers ranging from Aristotle to Feuerbach to present a much more open, dynamic and unstable conception of the body and the self. The result is a theory of human nature that is of great contemporary relevance, particularly for those interested in the body and embodiment, and those who wish to contest exaggerated notions of independence and individuality.

Author Biography

Dr Fox lectures in social work at Victoria University, Melbourne, having previously worked in the community sector and local government. He looks to promote a better recognition of the significance of the body and material world and to reveal the limitations of ideas of humanity and social justice that are not founded in bodily experience.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: evading the body
2. Early influences: pain and promise
3. Spinoza's revolution
4. Hegel: wrestling with desire
5. Feuerbach: embracing limitation
6. Marx's Objective Being
7. Marx's Species Being
8. Marx and Species Consciousness
9. The promise of the body