Available for the first time in English, Wataru Hiromatsu's Schema of the Theory of Reification argues that the change from Marx's theory of self-alienation to the concept of reification is crucial in establishing a new relational worldview which is still relevant today. Amongst other topics, his discussion of the understanding of society sees such things as a relational dynamic wherein the individual is constantly composed and composing in relation to others, including nature. This understanding is, he argues, the "single science of history" of Marx and Engels. This innovation offers a way to overcome the hypostasizing subject - object relation still so prevalent today.
Originally published in Japanese as Busshōkaron no kōzu by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, Tokyo, 1983, 1994. © By Kuniko Hiromatsu.
Publication date: May 13, 2025
Translator’s Preface
Introduction
Prologue
1. For an Extolling of Materialist History
1.1. The Dialectical Sublation of Classical Philosophy
1.2. The Overcoming of Humanism, and a New Horizon
1.3. The Sublation of the Theory of Alienation, and the Theory of Reification
2. The Composition and Scope of the Theory of Reification
2.1. The Reification of Social Relations and the Nature of Being of Cultural Forms
2.2. The Law-like Nature of the Historical Dynamic and the Significant Acts of the Subjects Involved
2.3. The Systematic Method of the Critique of Reification and the Standpoint of Value Judgement
3. The Theory of Reification of the Historical World
3.1. The Being-Structure of the World of the Commodity
(A) The Twofold Nature of the World of the Commodity
(B) The Problematics of the Theory of Value
(C) The Objectivity of Commodity Value
(D) The Fetish Nature of Commodity Being
(E) The Fourfold Nature of the World of the Commodity
2 The Being-Structure of the Historical World
(a) The Twofold Nature of the Information World
(b) The Problematics of Theories of Meaning
(c) The Objectivity of Social Acts
(d) The Historical Nature of the Natural World
(e) The Fourfold Nature of the World
4. The Historical Reification of the Natural World
5. Philosophy in Marx
Epilogue — Expanding the Theory of Reification
Index