Open AccessBeyond Form. Lukács’s Turn to Revolutionary Praxis
Author(s) -
Konstantinos Kavoulakos
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
zagreber germanistische beiträge
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1849-1766
pISSN - 1330-0946
DOI - 10.17234/zgb.29.11
Subject(s) - praxis , marxist philosophy , dialectic , transformative learning , epistemology , reification (marxism) , mysticism , philosophy , everyday life , sociology , aesthetics , law , political science , theology , politics , pedagogy
The concept of form occupies a central position in Georg Lukács’s early aestheticist work. Nevertheless, Lukács was aware of the limits of form in its confrontation with everyday life. In his critical appraisal, he revealed these limits in regard to aesthetic and ethical form. Neither can penetrate the ordinary life of men and they, thus, entrap the individual in a solipsistic relation to the world. In his pre-Marxist period, Lukács searched for an alternative in a kind of practical mysticism. This turn allowed him to discover a path beyond formalism in revolutionary, transformative praxis. This is the very path that finally led him to his dialectical-practical understanding of Marxism.