Dialectics for the New Century

Dialectics for the New Century

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Dialectics for the New Century Edited by Bertell Ollman and Tony Smith

Introduction, editorial matter, Selection, Bertell Ollman & Tony Smith 2008; all remaining chapters respective authors 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-53531-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-35829-8 ISBN 978-0-230-58381-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230583818 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dialectics for the new century / edited by Bertell Ollman and Tony Smith. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Dialectic. 2. Dialectical materialism. 3. Philosophy, Marxist. I. Ollman, Bertell. II. Smith, Tony, 1951 B809.8.D483 2007 146.32 dc22 2007051219 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

Contents List of Contributors vii 1. Introduction 1 Bertell Ollman and Tony Smith 2. Why Dialectics? Why Now? 8 Bertell Ollman 3. Dialectics and Systems Theory 26 Richard Levins 4. The Dialectics of Nature and Marxist Ecology 50 John Bellamy Foster 5. I ll Make You an Offer You Can t Refuse 83 6. Dialectics of Emergence 85 Lucien Sève 7. The Dialectics of Spacetime 98 David Harvey 8. Persistencies of the Dialectic: Three Sites 118 Fredric Jameson 9. The Dialectics of Walking on Two Legs 132 10. Dialectical Transformations: Teleology, History and Social Consciousness 135 István Mészáros 11. Dialectics and Revolution: Trotsky, Lenin, Lukács 151 Michael Löwy 12. Dialectics and Revolution, Now 163 Savas Michael-Matsas 13. Towards a Systematic Dialectic of Globalization 179 Tony Smith v

vi Contents 14. The Hole in Hegel s Bagel 199 15. The Dialectic of Capital: An Unoist Interpretation 200 Thomas T. Sekine 16. Systematic Dialectic 211 Christopher J. Arthur 17. Marxist Feminist Dialectics for the Twenty-first Century 222 Nancy Hartsock 18. Dialectic as Praxis 235 Joel Kovel 19. Livant s Cure for Baldness 243 20. Dialectics and Wisdom 246 Ira Gollobin Index 260

List of Contributors Christopher J. Arthur, Department of Philosophy (Emeritus), University of Sussex, England John Bellamy Foster, Department of Sociology, University of Oregon, US Ira Gollobin, lawyer and independent scholar, US Nancy Hartsock, Department of Political Science, University of Washington, US David Harvey, Department of Anthropology, City University of New York, US Fredric Jameson, The Literature Program, Duke University, US Joel Kovel, Division of Social Studies, Bard College, US Richard Levins, School of Public Health, Harvard University, US, Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Canada Michael Löwy, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris, France István Mészáros, Department of Philosophy (Emeritus), University of Sussex, England Savas Michael-Matsas, University of Athens, Greece Bertell Ollman, Department of Politics, New York University, US Thomas T. Sekine, School of Commerce, Aichi-Gakuin University, Japan Lucien Sève, independent scholar, France Tony Smith, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Iowa State University, US vii