The Illusion of the Epoch

by H. B. Acton

Overview

The Illusion of the Epoch helps readers to understand the roots of Marxism-Leninism and its implications for philosophy, modern political thought, economics, and history. As Professor Tim Fuller has written, this “is not an intemperate book, but rather an effort at a sustained, scholarly argument against Marxian views.”

H. B. Acton (1908–1974) taught at Bedford College (London), the Universityof Edinburgh, and the Universityof Chicago.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865973947
Publisher:	Liberty Fund, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/01/2003
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Preface vii
Introduction ix

PART ONE. DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM
I Marxist Realism 3
1. Idealism and Phenomenalism 3
2. Marxist Criticisms of Idealism and Phenomenalism 12
3. Phenomenalism, Idealism, and the Religious Outlook 13
4. Lenin’s Criticisms of Phenomenalism 17
5. The Marxist Account of Perception 28
II Marxist Naturalism 44
1. Basic Ideas of Marxist Naturalism 44
2. Science, Philosophy, and Practice 47
3. Science and the Supernatural 57
4. Marxist Dialectics 63
5. ‘‘Metaphysics’’ 66
6. Nature’s Changefulness 69
7. The Law of the Transformation of Quantity into Quality 72
8. Contradiction and the Negation of the Negation 85
9. Status of the Dialectical Laws 91
10. Marxism and Formal Logic 93

PART TWO. SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM
I Historical Materialism 99
1. Anti-metaphysical, Positivistic Aspect of Historical
Materialism 99
2. Feuerbach’s Theory of Religion and the Marxist Theory of
‘‘Ideologies’’ 108
3. The Materialist Conception of History in Outline 124
4. Examination of the Materialist Conception of History 132
5. The Ideological Superstructure 162
II Marxist Ethics 169
1. Marxist Social Science as a Form of Social Regeneration 169
2. Ethics and the Materialist Conception of History 181
3. Marx and Eugène Sue 194
4. Marxism and Moralism 201
5. Man’s Lost Unity Restored 211
6. The Supersession of the State 223
Conclusion 237
Reading List 259
Index 261