This book is the first complete commentary on Marx's manuscripts of 1861-63, works that guide our understanding of fundamental concepts such as 'surplus-value' and 'production price'.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203461754

This book is the first complete commentary on Marx's manuscripts of 1861-63, works that guide our understanding of fundamental concepts such as 'surplus-value' and 'production price'.

The recent publication of Marx's writings in their entirety has been a seminal event in Marxian scholarship. The hitherto unknown second draft of Volume 1 and first draft of Volume 3 of Capital, both published in the Manuscripts of 1861-63, now provide an important intermediate link between the Grundrisse and the final published editions of Capital. In this book, Enrique Dussel, one of the most original Marxist philosophers in the world today, provides an authoritative and detailed commentary on the manuscripts of 1861-63.

The main points which Dussel emphasises in this path-breaking work are:

• The fundamental category in Marx's theory is 'living labour' which exists outside of capital and which capital must subsume in order to produce surplus-value
• Theories of Surplus Value is not a historical survey of previous theories, but rather a 'critical confrontation' through which Marx developed new categories for his own theory
• The most important new categories developed in this manuscript are related to the 'forms of appearance' of surplus value.

The final part of the book discusses the relevance of the Manuscripts of 1861-63 to contemporary global capitalism, especially to the continuing underdevelopment and extreme poverty of Latin America.

First published in Spanish in 2006, "Twenty Theses on Politics" is a major statement on political philosophy from Enrique Dussel, one of Latin America's--and the world's--most important philosophers, and a founder of the philosophy of liberation. Synthesizing a half-century of his pioneering work in moral and political philosophy, Dussel presents a succinct rationale for the development of political alternatives to the exclusionary, exploitative institutions of neoliberal globalization. In twenty short, provocative theses he lays out the foundational elements for a politics of just and sustainable coexistence. Dussel first constructs a theory of political power and its institutionalization, taking on topics such as the purpose of politics and the fetishization of power. He insists that political projects must criticize or reject as unsustainable all political systems, actions, and institutions whose negative effects are suffered by oppressed or excluded victims. Turning to the deconstruction or transformation of political power, he explains the political principles of liberation and addresses matters such as reform and revolution.

"Twenty Theses on Politics" is inspired by recent political transformations in Latin America. As Dussel writes in Thesis 15, regarding the liberation praxis of social and political movements, "The winds that arrive from the South--from Nestor Kirchner, Tabare Vasquez, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and so many others--show us that things can be changed. The "people "must reclaim sovereignty " Throughout the twenty theses Dussel engages with Latin American thinkers and activists and with radical political projects such as the World Social Forum. He is also in dialogue with the ideas of Marx, Hegel, Habermas, Rawls, and Negri, offering insights into the applications and limits of their thinking in light of recent Latin American political thought and practice.

'If Enrique Dussel had been born in the United States, France or Germany he would be an intellectual celebrity. Author of dozens of books in Spanish, few have been translated into English. This book seeks to begin to remedy this injustice.' Ivan Petrella, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Miami Politics of Liberation presents a world political history, a partial and initial attempt at describing the history of political actors, the 'people', and their philosophical inspirations. It is a decolonizing of political history to begin to tell the accurate world story. In order to explore a politics of liberation a true world political history has to be told and understood. The frameworks to be overcome include: 1. Helenocentrism, which neglects the non-Greek and non-Roman influences on Greece and Rome; 2. Westernization, which neglects the Byzantine world among others in terms of political development; 3. Eurocentrism, which neglects or denigrates the world outside of Europe when describing political history; 4. the periodization of political history according to European standards; 5. the falsely assumed secularization of politics; 6. the colonizing of Latin American and other peripheral political philosophies; and 7. the exclusion of Spain/Portugal and Latin America from modernity. This is not simply one alternative reading, but it is a counter-narrative, describing the world's tradition of politics. It examines what has been said and what has not even been investigated. The starting point is the suffering of the people. Enrique Dussel is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the Iztapalapa campus of the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (Autonomous Metropolitan University, UAM) and also teaches courses at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM). He has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy (from the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina), a Doctorate from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, a Doctorate in History from the Sorbonne in Paris. He is the founder with others of the movement referred to as the Philosophy of Liberation, and his work is concentrated in the field of Ethics and Political Philosophy. Thia Cooper is Assistant Professor in the Religion Department of Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, MN and author of Controversies in Political Theology: Development or Liberation (SCM Press, 2007).

Description: This essay on Soren Kierkegaard and economic matters from a theological perspective is well grounded in the Dane's journals. In these writings, the late nineteenth-century thinker shows his solidarity with rural residents (90 percent of the population) and urbanite menial workers. Topics include the option for the poor; the ideology of impotence; the denouncing of a competitive society; the correlation of wealth and poverty; media, church, university, and theater as social institutions shaping reality; Christendom; and the retribution doctrine. A Vexing Gadfly develops the theological themes within the timeframe of ""Golden Age Denmark"" (1800-1860), which includes the period of Denmark's colonial activities. The historical approach adds flesh to the bones of abstract thought and ahistorical doctrines. Contrary to common belief, Kierkegaard did articulate economic issues through structural categories such as the age, the pyramid, the building, the external revolution, ""the Fire Chief,"" and his diagnosis of society. Ironically, the domestication of Kierkegaard's economic thought took place from the time of his death on November 11, 1855. His eulogy took place at the most important church of the country, the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen; his burial at Assistens Cemetery was with full pomp; and by 1971, his statue joined the select club of Mynster, Martensen, Grundvigt, et al., as they surround the wealthy Marble Church. Endorsements: ""Finally After decades of reading and interpreting Kierkegaard as the solitary--and somewhat eccentric--knight of faith, Perez Alvarez calls our attention to a different Kierkegaard, one deeply engaged in the economic and social issues of his time. In presenting a hitherto discounted and almost unknown Kierkegaard, this book not only corrects much of our traditional understanding, but also leads one to wonder why in the twentieth century we became so enamored with what was clearly a truncated view of the great Danish theologian."" --Justo L. Gonzalez, author of A History of Christian Thought ""A Vexing Gadfly is an extraordinary presentation of the radical economic, social, and political views of the later Kierkegaard as he prophetically and vehemently castigated the nineteenth-century Danish church, state, and their theology and ideology. Dr. Eliseo Perez-Alvares captures Kierkegaard's penetrating critique of the social-economic oppression of the marginalized with its relevance for contemporary theology. The cutting irony of a nineteenth-century Dane becomes a powerful voice through a twenty-first-century liberation theologian."" --Mark Thomsen, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Perez-Alvares presents us with a Kierkegaard that is little known: a theologian connected to his time of profound social changes, which takes the side of poor people and produces keen theological reflections regarding economy. Our time is also marked by crises and economic changes that affect the lives of millions of persons. What does Christian theology have to say to the world today? This book is a valuable contribution in the elaboration of this response. --Jung Mo Sung, author of Desire, Market and Religion About the Contributor(s): Eliseo Perez-Alvarez is Associate Professor of Contextual Theology and Praxis at the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest in Austin. He is the author of We Be Jammin: Liberating Discourses from the Land of the Seven Flags, The Gospel to the Calypsonians: the Caribbean, Bible and Liberation Theology, and Comentario de Marcos

This comprehensive history of the church in Latin America, with its emphasis on theology, will help historians and theologians to better understand the formation and continuity of the Latin American tradition.