Towards the Dialectic of Capital: A Critical Reception of Ilyenkov and Althusser

Abstract

The question of dialectical materialism is the question of how Marxist concepts could function and operate in the context of contemporary capitalist production. In 20th century Marxism, we can clearly see how Marx's strategies of developing dialectical materialist theory emerge from two important philosophical sources: Hegel and Spinoza. At first glance, Louis Althusser appears as a theoretical antagonist to the Soviet philosopher, Evald Ilyenkov, who thinks of Hegelian dialectics together with Spinoza, while Althusser suggests using Spinoza’s philosophy as a "detour" to construct an anti-Hegelian theory. For Althusser,  the construction of a model of theoretical practice is the key to understanding the specifics of Marx's dialectic. Ilyenkov analyses the possibilities of dialectical materialism as the unfolding of universal laws of objective reality. Both theorists are well aware that dialectics cannot be applied in an "external" way, only as a simple translation of concepts into another language. The language of dialectics should be a unique combination of theory and practice. A critical reception of the concepts of Ilyenkov and Althusser allows us to see the possibilities for their common structuralist argument in favor of justification of dialectics. At this point, dialectics is created as a common horizon for theoretical problems, helping to resolve the gap between anti-Hegelian and Hegelian Marxism.