Georg Lukacs' early Marxist philosophy of the 1920s laid the foundations of Critical Theory. However the evaluation of Lukacs' philosophical contribution has been largely determined by one-sided readings of eminent theorists like Adorno, Habermas, Honneth or even Lukacs himself. This book offers a new reconstruction of Lukacs' early Marxist work, capable of restoring its dialectical complexity by highlighting its roots in his neo-Kantian, 'pre-Marxist' period. In his pre-Marxist work Lukacs sought to articulate a critique of formalism from the standpoint of a dubious mystical ethics of revolutionary praxis. Consequently, Lukacs discovered a more coherent and realistic answer to his philosophical dilemmas in Marxism. At the same time, he retained his neo-Kantian reservations about idealist dialectics. In his reading of historical materialism he combined non-idealist, non-systematic historical dialectics with an emphasis on conscious, collective, transformative praxis. Reformulated in this way Lukacs' classical argument plays a central role within a radical Critical Theory.

This study examines philosophical questions regarding the limitations of formalism and how they might be overcome. It presents a critical reconstruction of the early work of Georg Lukacs, which attempted to supplement a unique form of aesthetic cultural critique with a Dostoyevskian-styled ethical utopia. Demonstrating the unity and the aporias of this two-track approach, it sheds new light on Lukacs s Marxist turn at the end of 1918."

Georg Lukacs' early Marxist philosophy of the 1920s laid the foundations of Critical Theory. However the evaluation of Lukacs' philosophical contribution has been largely determined by one-sided readings of eminent theorists like Adorno, Habermas, Honneth or even Lukacs himself. This book offers a new reconstruction of Lukacs' early Marxist work, capable of restoring its dialectical complexity by highlighting its roots in his neo-Kantian, 'pre-Marxist' period. In his pre-Marxist work Lukacs sought to articulate a critique of formalism from the standpoint of a dubious mystical ethics of revolutionary praxis. Consequently, Lukacs discovered a more coherent and realistic answer to his philosophical dilemmas in Marxism. At the same time, he retained his neo-Kantian reservations about idealist dialectics. In his reading of historical materialism he combined non-idealist, non-systematic historical dialectics with an emphasis on conscious, collective, transformative praxis. Reformulated in this way Lukacs' classical argument plays a central role within a radical Critical Theory.