Marx, Hayek, and Utopia

Develops a critique of utopianism through a comparison of the works of Karl Marx and F. A. Hayek, challenging conventional views of both Marxian and Hayekian thought.
This book develops a critique of utopianism through a provocative comparison of the works of Karl Marx and F. A. Hayek, thus engaging two vastly different traditions in critical dialogue. By emphasizing the methodological and substantive similarities between Marxian and Hayekian perspectives, it challenges each tradition's most precious assumptions about the other. Through this comparative analysis, the book articulates the crucial distinctions between utopian and radical theorizing.
Sciabarra examines the dialectical method of social inquiry common to both Marxian and Hayekian thought and argues that both Marx and Hayek rejected utopian theorizing because it internalizes an abstract, ahistorical, exaggerated sense of human possibility. The chief disagreement between Marx and Hayek, he shows, is not political but epistemological, reflecting their differing assumptions about the limits of reason.

About the author

Chris Matthew Sciabarra is Visiting Scholar in the Department of Politics at New York University. He is the author of Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical.

Product details

• Authors: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.1995
• EAN: 9780791426159
• ISBN: 978-0-7914-2615-9
• No. of pages: 178
• Dimensions: 167 mm x 234 mm x 16 mm
• Weight: 426 g
• Series: Suny the Philosophy of the Soc
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education