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| Author(s): |
Murillo Augusto de Souza Van der Laan
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas |
| Defense date: | 2020-03-27 |
| Examining board members: |
Jesus José Ranieri;
Ricardo Antunes;
Sávio Cavalcante;
João Leonardo Gomes Medeiros;
Anderson Deo
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| Advisor: | Jesus José Ranieri |
| Abstract | |
This dissertation aims to discuss the analytical extent and limits of György Lukács¿ theory of value in his work The Ontology of Social Being, published after his death. Following the literature on this and drawing from Peter Hudis¿ brief considerations and István Mészáros¿ sharp immanent critique ¿ but also taking some distance from these interpretations ¿ we argue that Lukács¿ reading of Marx¿s labour theory of value contrasts with the Marxian perspective itself, which impacts negatively in the whole theoretical approach of the Ontology. In the base of social reproduction, as theorized in Lukács¿ posthumous work, we find a generalization of the labour theory of value to all social formations. With such generalization comes the imputation of specific aspects of capitalist production to the whole of social being: the indirect character of social production; the opacity of economic valuations; the compulsion to reduce labour time; and the category of socially necessary labour time. In this sense, Lukács¿ position departs from his own demand, in the Ontology, of a radically historical approach to the social being. His perspective, furthermore, is put in movement by the central role ascribed by Lukács to commodity exchange in the historical development of social being, which would take, necessarily, to its unification. Following this, we argue that the Ontology continues its a-historical analysis of the social being resorting to an anachronical attribution of capitalistic determinations to pre-capitalist exchanges, in order to justify an assumed necessary and compulsory movement of reduction of labour time. Therefore, besides departing from his historical perspective, Lukács departs also from another of his demands in the Ontology: the anti-teleological approach to the movement of the social being. Finally, these problems reappear when the Ontology addresses alienation and emancipation in the social being. Here we reencounter the a-historical extension of Marxian labour theory of value to all social formations and the compulsion to reduce labour time. This ascribes an insurmountable heteronomous character to the economic complex ¿ despite the possibility of mitigate its effects in an emancipated society. We argue, therefore, that besides contrasting with the Marxian perspective from which Lukács tries to support his own conclusions, he also demotes the idea of human emancipation and power of praxis, especially in its collective dimension. Despite these problems, there is in the Ontology a perspective of totality that articulates in a fruitful way nature, individual and society, subjectivity and objectivity, putting forward a co-evolutional approach between inorganic, organic and social beings. These fruitful aspects, nevertheless, are compromised by Lukács¿ interpretation of Marx¿s labour theory of value (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 14/10520-4 - The lukácsian ontological concept of value: advancements and limitations |
| Grantee: | Murillo Augusto de Souza van der Laan |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |