Marx, Methodology and Science: Marx's Science of Politics Book

This is an examination of both the nature of Marx's method and the nature of science. The book intends to identify the component parts of Marx's method and present an account of the main philosophies of science. A number of subsidiary issues will also be considered, including the relationship of Marx to Hegel and Feuerbach, the extent of continuity between the early and later works of Marx, and the relationship of Marx's philosophy to his science. The survey of philosophies of science offered in the book identify four principal conceptions of science: scientific positivism; critical rationalism; conventionalism and scientific realism. The overall aims of this text are: to provide an account of Marx's method; to outline Marx's materialism and dialectics; to give an overview of the main conceptions of science; and to asses the scientific status of Marx's method via a comparison of his approach with the conceptions of science described, and an examination of the arguments put forward by proponents of Marxism as a science.Read More