The Critical Dimension Of Political Economy On The Theory Of "Real Abstraction" By Sohn-Rethel

The concept of "real abstraction",after a long and complex theoretical development,has not only become an important "foundational concept" of Western left-wing radical theory,but also a clear reflection of the objective transformation of capitalist social critique after the 1960 s,It also reflects the tendency to microcosmize and bring to life the rule of capitalist society.The basic use of this concept is,first of all,to show that the dominant mode of capitalist domination in contemporary times no longer relies simply on starvation,intimidation,and active ideological propaganda,but more on the "social structure"-in the context of the critique of political economy-which is primarily the commodity-money-capital economy.It is the economic structure of commodity-money-capital,which is closely linked to what Marx called "the domination of abstraction".It is interesting to note that,whether philosophically Hegelian,Kantian,or otherwise,all of these widely divergent schools of thought converge on the notion of "real abstraction".In this process,the German "New Reading Marxism" and the "New Value Critique",the British and American "New Dialectic",the Japanese scholar Tohmas T.Sekine,the French structuralist Bidet The Hegelian-Lacanian psychoanalysis of Zizek,and the Italian "post-operaismo" have all developed different interpretations of the concept of "real abstraction".But whether they understand "real abstraction" as a monetary schema,an a priori structure of capital relations,a form of exchange,abstract wealth production,a system of symbols,or intelligence in general,such an extension only treats Sohn-Rethel as a disposable starting point,without carefully grasping Sohn-Rethel’s own concept of "real abstraction".They either take "real abstraction" as a starting point for their capitalist epistemological critique and bourgeois subjectivity,or they focus only on how Sohn-Rethel constitutes the same sequence of critiques toward contemporary "real abstraction" as other scholars.In this process,first,Sohn-Rethel’s own concept of "real abstraction" is not fully grasped in the dual dimension of epistemological critique and political economy critique;second,the differences between Sohn-Rethel and the relevant thinkers are not highlighted.This paper thus argues that in the understanding of Sohn-Rethel,one should grasp his theory of "real abstraction" in its entirety,but most importantly,one should examine the way in which he gives the concept of "real abstraction".The questioning of the latter leads us to the historical process of disembedding and exploitation,and thus to a gap with some contemporary doctrines that are accustomed to merely depicting the objective domination of the "logic of capital",which also implies the critical dimension of Sohn-Rethel’s theory.Therefore,first of all,this paper takes "real abstraction" as the core clue,reconstructs Sohn-Rethel’s theory,weakens the characteristics of his social knowledge theory and highlights the dimensions of his critique of political economy.In contrast with Lukacs,Arthur,Hegel and other thinkers,Sohn-Rethel’s special attention to the real historical process is highlighted.Secondly,this paper attempts to explore his complex philosophical basis and methodology,namely "Kant in the framework of Hegel".Through the classical concepts of "form of representation","dualism" and "thing in itself",it illustrates the unique connotation of historical materialization of Kant’s dualism by Sohn-Rethel with the help of Hegel,and carries out a comparative analysis with the thoughts of scholars such as Kojin Karatani.It is pointed out that Sohn-Rethel is not just concerned with exchange as is common in the academic view,but also concerned with the transformation of the mode of production.Then,this paper analyzes this new focus and compares early Frankfurt School’s absorption of the theory of "state capitalism" with the neglected theoretical masterpiece "The Economic and Class Structure of German Fascism" and the views of Postone,vandenberger and Honneth and explains Sohn-Rethel’s adherence to the critical method of political economy.It always maintains an optimistic attitude towards the liberating potential of the socialization of productive forces and tries to give a possible revolutionary prospect based on the investigation of the capitalist mode of production.Finally,I evaluate Sohn-Rethel’s theory mainly on the philosophical basis of "Kant in the framework of Hegel".This paper argues that although it grasps the split characteristics of capitalism based on Kantian dualism,it pays a certain price,which makes the theory divided into two incompatible parts.This led to the problems of dualizing thought and being,exchange and production in both social epistemology and social ontology,and finally he did not really give a theory to make production-distribution-exchange-consumption consistent.Therefore,he stayed in simple commodity production and exchange,and did not go into the link of capital and surplus value.