Essays in Self-Criticism pdf

Louis Pierre Althusser (francés: 16 de octubre de 1918 - 22 de octubre de 1990) fue un filósofo marxista francés. Nació en Argelia y estudió en la École normale supérieure de París, donde finalmente se convirtió en profesor de Filosofía. Althusser fue miembro durante mucho tiempo y, en ocasiones, un fuerte crítico del Partido Comunista Francés (Parti communiste français, PCF). Sus argumentos y tesis se enfrentaron a las amenazas que vio atacar los fundamentos teóricos del marxismo. Estos incluían tanto la influencia del empirismo en la teoría marxista, como las orientaciones humanistas y socialistas reformistas que se manifestaron como divisiones en los partidos comunistas europeos, así como el problema del culto a la personalidad ya la ideología. Althusser se conoce comúnmente como un marxista estructural, aunque su relación con otras escuelas del estructuralismo francés no es una simple afiliación y fue crítico de muchos aspectos del estructuralismo. La vida de Althusser estuvo marcada por períodos de intensa enfermedad mental. En 1980, mató a su esposa, la socióloga Hélène Rytmann, estrangulándola. Fue declarado no apto para ser juzgado por demencia y fue internado en un hospital psiquiátrico durante tres años. Hizo poco más trabajo académico, muriendo en 1990.

Essays in Self-Criticism pdf por Louis Althusser

Louis Althusser became a controversial figure in France with the publication of his essay "Contradiction and Overdetermination" in 1962. He became a politically controversial figure when the essay "Marxism and Humanism" appeared in 1964. The reason was his attack on the notion of humanism. "Ten years ago", he wrote at the time, "socialist humanism only existed in one form: that of class humanism. Today it exists in two forms: class humanism, where the dictatorship of the proletariat is still in force (China, etc.), and (socialist) personal humanism where it has been superseded (the USSR)". But while "the concept 'socialism' is indeed a scientific concept . . . the concept 'humanism' is no more than an ideological one". His purpose at this time was thus, first, to distinguish between the sciences and the ideologies; and second to show that while Marxism is a science, all forms of humanism must be classed among the ideologies. This was the basis of what he called "theoretical anti-humanism". (Althusser's use of the term "humanism" is specific, and it has of course nothing to do with "humanitarianism".) The reaction to his arguments, however, went far beyond the realms of theory, and into the political world itself. I will try to outline this political reaction and Althusser's response to it, because this is one of the best ways of approaching his philosophical work, and also of learning something about a man whom the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur thought it useful 1. Both articles are reprinted in For Marx (Allen Lane, 1969).
 to describe as "one of the most mysterious and least 'public' figures in the world"! It was clearly impossible for the French Communist Party, of which Althusser has been a member since 1948 to endorse all of his writings as they appeared, since on certain points they put its own positions in question. Nevertheless, these writings were intended as an intervention in the debate within the party, and the enormous interest which they raised did not remain without an echo there. Articles, some of them hesitantly favourable, began to appear in Party journals. Lucien Sève, in some ways the Party's senior philosopher, devoted a long note to Althusser in his work La Théorie marxiste de la personnalité, outlining certain points of disagreement. But Althusser stuck to his position. Waldeck Rochet, Party General Secretary at the time, gave encouragement to his research work, while distancing the Central Committee from its conclusions.