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Criticism of Marx’s notion of causality: the preface to 1859

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to expose an idea of causality present in Marx’s conception, considering some of his claims regarding history. Precisely, claims regarding modes of production as progressive epochs of human society, present in the Preface of 1859. With this I intend to maintain that Marx still resorts to an idea of causality in a strong sense, closer to natural sciences. I think that the use of this category as a theoretical resource goes against the idea of a social philosophy as a social science; to which all causality is not foreign, but it is convenient to take it in a weak sense. Because I intend to consider the idea of causality without forgetting to consider the idea of unpredictability as a significant marker regarding the human sciences.

Keywords:
Causality; Materialism; Mode of Production; Social Science.

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