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The Marxist
Philosophy of
History
Dr. Kristen Epps
Colorado State University—Pueblo
HIST300: Historiography
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What is Historical Theory?

Closely tied to literary theory and also philosophy,
but with different goals in mind—very
interdisciplinary

Historical theories are compelling, but unproven,
ideas and principles that help explain the past by
looking at the “big picture;” in more technical
terms, it is an interpretive framework or
metanarrative, “a global or totalizing cultural
narrative schema which orders and explains
knowledge and experience”1

It involves “close reading” of primary sources,
application of a theoretical model to “test” a
historical event/person, and usage of very precise
vocabulary
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How Do I Recognize a Historical
Theory?

This interest in interdisciplinarity only comes in the midtwentieth century

Some topics will lend themselves to a more theoretical
approach (e.g., gender studies, labor history, cultural
studies, etc.)

BUT, some historians are averse to theory, so don’t assume
that there is a theoretical framework in every text

It is usually associated with a school of thought (e.g.,
postcolonialism, postmodernism, etc.), or with the theorist
who developed it (e.g., Judith Butler, Michel Foucault,
Edward Said, etc.)

Look for name dropping in the text or citations (see next
slide) and also usage of specific terminology and
concepts
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Some Well-Known Examples
This website includes a very complete bibliography, with annotations at the end of
some books that provide basic descriptions of theorists (mixed within a bunch of
"regular" historians, so it is not ideal for browsing):
http://www.amst.umd.edu/Research/cultland/index.html
Postcolonialism (most commonly found in Caribbean, Asian and African
studies): http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/introduction/
Postmodernism: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html
Antonio Gramsci (neo-Marxism): http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htm
Frederic Jameson (neo-Marxism): http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/kell19.htm
Jurgen Habermas (“the public sphere”): http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/
Clifford Geertz (culture and anthropology): http://www.scribd.com/doc/48136604/A-ShortReview-on-Cultural-Theory-of-Clifford-Geertz
Judith Butler (gender, sexuality, and “the body”): http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-butl.htm
Michel Foucault (poststructuralism, “the body,” sexuality, power, etc.): for basic
terms/definitions, http://www.michel-foucault.com/concepts/index.html, and for a more
detailed outline, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/
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Karl Marx
Nineteenth-century
Political Theorist and
Revolutionary
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Georg Hegel
Nineteenth-century
Philosopher and
Historian
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Key Terms from Hegelian Theory
 Zeitgeist—”the
spirit of the ages”
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Key Terms from Hegelian Theory
 Zeitgeist—”the
 Determinism
spirit of the ages”
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Key Terms from Hegelian Theory
 Zeitgeist—”the
spirit of the ages”
 Determinism
 Dialectic

Thesis  Antithesis  Synthesis
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Western Europe in 1815
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Economic and Philosophical
Manuscripts, 1844
“The worker becomes all the poorer the more
wealth he produces, the more his production
increases in power and range. The worker
becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more
commodities he creates. With the increasing value
of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion
to the devaluation of the world of men. Labor
produces not only commodities; it produces itself
and the worker as a commodity—and does so in
the proportion in which it produces commodities
generally.”
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Friedrich
Engels
Nineteenth-century
Philosopher and Marx’s
Ideological Partner
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Marx
Monument
in London
Cemetery