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| The course will discuss what is distinctive about Marx's way of thinking and consider how to judge whether his ideas remain fruitful today. Though our emphasis will be on the philosophical dimension of Marx's work, we will see that his concepts of critique and historical concreteness require that issues of being, knowledge, and value be pursued with the help of empirical science and practical experience. At the same time we will see that his development of economic and sociological ideas retains a philosophical dimension by linking historical conditions to universalistic possibilities. In discussing the contemporary uses of Marx's thought, we will examine the relevance of such ideas as labor, alienation, and class conflict to phenomena associated with globalization and the "information society." In particular we will explore what Marx has to say to an age of mass media culture and politics and whether his ideas can help us understand the implications of the Internet. |