Knowledge and Ideology

Michael Morris is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida. He has published articles in journals including the International Yearbook of German Idealism, the European Journal of Philosophy and the Intellectual History Review.

• Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. The Dialectic of Ideology: 1. In and of this world: the dual status of thought; 2. The immanent destruction of functional ideology critique: Nietzsche, Foucault, Althusser; Part II. On Ideology and Violence: 3. Jean Jacques Rousseau: social oppression, the gaze of the other, and the appeal of naturalized violence; 4. Max Stirner: the Bohemian Left and the violent self-loathing of the bourgeoisie; 5. Marx contra Stirner: a parting of ways; Part III. A Marxist Theory of Knowledge: 6. German visions of the French Revolution: on the interpretation of dreams; 7. The persistent crises and the social vocation of reason: Mannheim as epistemologist; 8. Practice, reflection, sublimation, critique: social ontology and social knowledge; Bibliography; Index.

'In Knowledge and Ideology: The Epistemology of Social and Political Critique, Michael Morris accomplishes several laudable tasks … [H]is historical account of the development of ideological theory, and his summaries of particular ideological and epistemological theories, is keen. The scope of his histories and summaries entails engaging discussions of Bacon, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Stirner, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, Foucault, Mannheim, Lukács, Eagleton, Althusser, and a host of other illuminating thinkers. Morris consistently captures the essence of their theories.' Chris Byron, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books