Abstract

Stressing the insights of the young Marx, Kamenka brings together Marxist social criticism and the meta-ethical concerns of analytic philosophy. Marx's contribution to the Hegelian concern with freedom and alienation is more distinguished than is the discussion of Marx by subsequent Marxists. Confusing conflict with contradiction, Marx never acknowledged the real contradiction between the relativism of his sociology of morals and the absolutism of his "normative-advocative" use of a "science" of history. But his emphasis on the morality of activities and groups rather than of individuals deserves attention from philosophers. Amongst Marxist philosophers, Kamenka really only considers the Soviets, who assume too easily that conflicts between individual and collective norms are "dialectically" resolved. It would have been an improvement to include in this otherwise excellent monograph some account of French and Italian writers on its central themes.--C. P. S.