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Beyond Marx, Beyond Europe

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Marx and Europe

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations ((PPCE,volume 30))

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Abstract

Raul Fornet-Betancourt questions a series of borders related to the idea of going beyond both Marx and Europe: beyond European capitalism and its ideology of historical progress, beyond the timid consideration of colonialism in the eurocentrist tendencies of Marxism, beyond the supposed universality inherited from Christian Europe. As part of a deliberately humanist interpretation of Marx, Fornet-Betancourt considers this “call” to go beyond both as a European and a non-European task, and explores, in relation to the second point, the contributions of the Latin-American theology of liberation to the Marxist heritage.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To reinforce my interpretation, I would also refer to Karl Mannheim’s exploration of European humanism as a movement in which this dual way of living and thinking is concretized precisely in medieval and modern humanism as a dialectical process between the “local” and the “international” or “universal”. He writes: “The fact that modern Culture was prepared by clerical training immediately aligned it with, from its very origin, a strong sense of internationalism. Clerical culture was in the first place the expression of an international order, and only in the second place a reflection of individual, local or national situations. The successor of this Christian humanism was secular humanism, which for its part began, for secular reasons, also as an inter-national movement… . Thus the march of the Western historical community is not… a gradual process from the provincial, localist culture to the national and international. On the contrary, it is structured according to a magnificent arsis of inter-national integration…” (Mannheim 1958, 78–79). It is also interesting to take into account the work of Jacques Le Goff, such as his book L’Europe est-elle née au Moyen Age (2003).

  2. 2.

    For an exhaustive study see the well-documented work of Thomas Leinkauf, Grundriss Philosophie des Humanismus und der Renaissance (1350–1600) (2017).

  3. 3.

    We will recall as an example the Louis Althusser’s polemics against humanism.

  4. 4.

    Exemplary here are the Confessions with the famous advice of “noli foras”.

  5. 5.

    One will recall Marx’s well-known statement: “Life itself appears as a means of living” (Marx 1966, 67; for the German original see Marx 1968, 516).

  6. 6.

    Examples of such attempts include José Porfirio Miranda, Marx y la Biblia: crítica a la filosofía de la opresión (1972); Enrique Dussel, Las metáforas teológicas de Marx (1993); and more recently: Franz Hinkelammert, “Der Vorrang des Menschen im Konflikt mit der Idolatrie: Religionskritik, profane Theologie und humanistische Praxis” (2016, 3–32); and Michael Ramminger and Franz Segbers (ed.), “Alle Verhältnisse umzuwerfen … und die Mächtigen vom Thron zu stürzen”. Das gemeinsame Erbe von Christen und Marx (2018).

  7. 7.

    Recall, for example, Marx and Engels’ far-sighted and prescient statements about the expansion of the civilization of the new world created by capitalism (cf. Marx and Engels 1961, in particular 73–77; for the German original see 1972, in particular 463–467).

  8. 8.

    For a presentation of Martí’s vision of Karl Marx see: Raúl Fornet-Betancourt, Transformación del marxismo. Historia del marxismo en América Latina (2001, in particular 28–34).

  9. 9.

    Cf. Comisión para la doctrina de la fue (ed.), Instrucción sobre algunos aspectos de la “Theología de la liberación” (1984) and Instrucción sobre libertad cristiana y liberación (1986). Concerning the debates, see for example Hugo Assmann, “Cristianismo y marxismo” (1987); Horacio Cerutti, “La recepción del marxismo por el pensamiento cristiano latinoamericano” (1988); José Comblin, “Théologie de la liberation et marxisme” (1987); and the monographic issue “Marxismo y teología de la liberación” of the journal Cristianismo y Sociedad, n. 98 (1988).

  10. 10.

    See for example Ignacio Ellacuría, “Historización de los derechos humanos desde los pueblos oprimidos y las mayorías populares” (2001); Enrique Dussel, Ética de la liberación en la edad de la globalización y de la exclusión (1998); and Jon Sobrino, La fe en Jesucristo. Ensayo desde las víctimas (1999).

  11. 11.

    It is not without interest to recall Fidel Castro’s response to the Brazilian theologian Frei Betto’s question on the quest for development of the spiritual life in a communist society: “… we seek the broadest possible material and spiritual development of man. It is precisely in these terms that I speak of education and culture. You could add, also, his spiritual development in the religious sense.” (Betto 1985). On the subject of the new man in a comparison of Marxist and Christian views see my study “Der neue Mensch bei Ernesto Che Guevara und Ignacio Ellacuría” (2012) and the literature cited therein.

  12. 12.

    For a systematic presentation of this mutually fruitful relationship between Marxist thought and the vision of Latin American liberation theology see Ignacio Ellacuría, “Marxismo y teología de la liberación” (2000).

  13. 13.

    Heidegger bases his judgement on Marx’s well-known statement in his “On the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right”, where he writes: “And the root, for man, is man himself”. On Heidegger’s conception of nihilism as a constitutive movement of Western history in general see also Martin Heidegger, “Nietzsches Wort ‘Gott ist tot’” (1977, 217 and onwards) and “Zur Seinsfrage” (1976).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, RWTH_Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Raúl Fornet-Betancourt

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  1. Raúl Fornet-Betancourt
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Correspondence to Raúl Fornet-Betancourt .

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  1. UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Matthieu de Nanteuil

  2. Kulturakademiet, Paris, France

    Anders Fjeld

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Fornet-Betancourt, R. (2024). Beyond Marx, Beyond Europe. In: de Nanteuil, M., Fjeld, A. (eds) Marx and Europe. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53736-3_7

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