Critique of Dialectical Reason

Critique of Dialectical Reason, (French: Critique de la raison dialectique) (1960), (Volume I: Theory of Practical Ensembles)^[1] was the last of Jean-Paul Sartre's major philosophical works. It attempts to use Existentialism as a foundational contribution to Marxism as described in Search for a Method, both of which were written as a common manuscript of some 755 pages with Sartre intending the Critique to logically precede Search.^[2] The second volume with an incomplete treatment of the Stalinization of the Bolshevik revolution was published in French in 1985 and in English in 1992.

Sartre is quoted as having said this was the principal of his two philosophical works for which he wished to be remembered.^[3][4]

Precis

By using events of the French Revolution and other historical occasions (including the notion that the endowment by Europeans of certain metals with a "precious" value led inexorably to slavery), Sartre attempted to show how what we call class is a special instance of a human grouping, or rather several levels of human groupings (seriality). He preceded this with complex explanations of groupings of increasing sophistication, ranging from a queue at a bus stop to institutions.

See also

• Being and Nothingness

Notes

1. ^ Critique of Dialectical Reason Volume I Theory of Practical Ensembles Tr. by Alan Sheridan Smith. Verso 2004 ISBN 1-85984-485-5
2. ^ "Sartre says that Search for a Method logically belongs at the end of the Critique, since it is the Critique which supplies the critical foundations for the method which Sartre proposes. He places the shorter work first, partly because he feared it might otherwise seem that 'the mountain had brought forth a mouse' and partly because Search for a Method was actually written first." Hazel Barnes p ix, introduction to Search Vintage 1963 edition. Next page describes the content of the original manuscript.
3. ^ Sartre at 70: An interview Full text of the interview in which the author gives his opinion in the New York Review of Books. Actual question (at beginning of Part II) is "And which of your works do you hope to see the new generation take up again?"
4. ^ Infidels, Freethinkers, Humanists, and Unbelievers Sartre after Literature ¶ 3. Typical of the secondary sources referring to the actual text in the interview.

External links

• Andy Blunden discusses some terms Sartre uses in the CDR. The 2004 Verso edition contains a larger glossary.

Excerpts from Sartre's work:

• Full TOC and Partial Text at Google Books
• The Dogmatic Dialectic and the Critical Dialectic
• The Intelligibility of History: Totalisation without a Totaliser