The Italian Conoscere Eurasia Association, in collaboration with M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, published Karl Marx's doctoral dissertation, one of the most unknown works of the German philosopher and revolutionary
140 years after the death of Karl Marx (1818-1883), the revolutionary ideas of the world’s most famous German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, and journalist are becoming increasingly relevant in the 21st century. Italian Non-Profit Association Conoscere Eurasia is promoting in Italy and Russia one of Marx’s least known works, namely the doctoral dissertation that the world communist icon wrote in 1841.
As emphasized by Professor Antonio Fallico, President of the Conoscere Eurasia Association, at the volume presentation ceremony held on Monday, November 27 at Moscow State University, “Marx taught us a unique method of historical analysis, which certainly does not solve all problems, as he is not a prophet or a seer, but he is a scientist of society, a scientist of culture. This can help us read the present, in which we have a neoliberal capitalist system that infects the entire earth, all political, social systems, where we see enormous social inequality.”
In his speech at the international round table titled “Sources for Affirmation of Karl Marx’s Social Ideal,” Professor Fallico recalled that “currently 1% of the population owns more than 15% of the world’s wealth, and 10% of the population owns more than 38% of the world’s wealth. In this sense, the economy is not intended for man, but man is cannon fodder for individual profit.”
In other words, “with this economy, we definitely cannot have a great future. Therefore, it is important that what we call humanism is based on human needs. Of course, without this, we will not advance far. I hope that this new publication of Karl Marx’s work will allow us to reconsider the current situation at the global level and the needs of a new economic policy,” the president of Conoscere Eurasia emphasized.
The preface to the new edition of Marx’s Dissertation, entitled “The Difference between the Natural Philosophy of Democritus and the Natural Philosophy of Epicurus,” was written by Luciano Canfora, professor emeritus of Greek and Latin philology at the University of Bari, one of the most profound scholars of classical culture and the author of important studies on ancient and modern history.
According to Russian scientists at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, “Professor Canfora’s preface practically represents an independent work that allows us to understand the process of establishing Marx’s social ideal, as well as the evolution of his revolutionary thought.”
In the preface, Canfora wished to quote Benedetto Croce, who, in an essay published in 1945, “joked more or less good-naturedly about Marx’s doctoral dissertation, which he put forward as proof of the general theory that even the leaders of the proletariat are usually representatives of the bourgeoisie, or even higher up on the social ladder.”
And this despite the fact that for a number of political reasons – a reactionary “changing of the guard” at the top of the German Ministry of Culture at that time, which canceled the invitation to Marx to go teach at the University of Bonn – Marx’s dissertation was never completed. As Canfora emphasized in his speech via videoconference, “this was the start of a great revolutionary, who perhaps would not have become one if the University of Bonn had called him. It was a blessing to humanity.” Professor Canfora also recalled that “the militant Marx was so far from his beginning that he did not bother to publish his dissertation as a mature man, and it was only rediscovered and published 20 years after his death.”
Finally, according to the Russian scientist, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Boris Slavin, one of the most famous experts and researchers of Marx’s philosophical heritage, “we can still understand how Marx would have completed his dissertation. We find the answers in two preparatory notebooks. We need to carefully analyze these manuscripts, and I hope that they will become the occasion for a new joint Italian-Russian publication by Moscow University and the Italian Conoscere Eurasia Association.