In 1981, Andrew Feenberg published Lukács, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory, a book that positioned Hungarian philosopher György Lukács at the forefront of Western Marxism. Feenberg cited Lukács’s 1923 History and Class Consciousness as the pivotal text of the what he named “the philosophy of praxis”: a tradition that seeks the realization of philosophy through revolution.
This week, Verso releases Feenberg’s timely update to the canonical text, The Philosophy of Praxis: Marx, Lukács, and the Frankfurt School, with a new introduction and insight into how the philosophy of praxis relates to the unfolding critical response to technology. We bring you the introduciton to the new edition in full.
In 1982, the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze interviewed the Palestinian author Elias Sanbar, founder of the Journal of Palestine Studies (La Revue d'Études Palestiniennes). They examine the importance of the journal and the existence of the people and land of Palestine. Disgracefully, over 30 years later, these discussions are still despairingly relevant to today's climate.
We have waited a long time for an Arab journal in French, but instead of coming from North Africa, it's being done by the Palestinians. La Revue d'Études Palestiniennes has two characteristics obviously centered on Palestinian problems which also concern the entire Arab world. On the one hand it presents very profound socio political analyses in a masterful yet calm tone. On the other hand, it mobilizes a specifically Arab literary, historical and sociological "corpus" which is very rich and little known.
-Gilles Deleuze, 1982