1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910963805703321

Autore

Fritsch Matthias

Titolo

The promise of memory : history and politics in Marx, Benjamin, and Derrida / / Matthias Fritsch

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2005

ISBN

9780791482780

0791482782

9781423747802

1423747801

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (264 p.)

Collana

SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy

Disciplina

335.4/119

Soggetti

History - Philosophy

Political science - Philosophy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-245) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Benjamin's reading of Marx -- Derrida's reading of Marx -- The critique of violence -- The claim of the dead upon the living.

Sommario/riassunto

Rereading Marx through Walter Benjamin and Jacques Derrida, The Promise of Memory attempts to establish a philosophy of liberation. Matthias Fritsch explores how memories of injustice relate to the promises of justice that democratic societies have inherited from the Enlightenment. Focusing on the Marxist promise for a classless society, since it contains a political promise whose institutionalization led to totalitarian outcomes, Fritsch argues that both memories and promises, if taken by themselves, are one-sided and potentially justify violence if they do not reflect on the implicit relation between them. He examines Benjamin's reinterpretation of Marxism after the disappointment of the Russian and German revolutions and Derrida's "messianic" inheritance of Marx after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The book also contributes to contemporary political philosophy by relating Marxist social goals and German critical theory to debates about deconstructive ethics and politics.