| Reification is the marked concept of Lukacs’ diagnosis of capitalist modernity. Lukacs’ critique on reification is mainly from two dimensions:critique of reason and philosophy of history. From the perspective of the former, Lukacs takes in the critique of Marx’s commodity fetishism and Weber’s critique of rationalization. The dominant commodity structure and the spread of formal rationality are two sides of the same coin. The thing implied in the ’re’ of reification is not only an object of commodity relationship, but also an object suited to formal rational comprehension, prediction and control. Formal rationality and contemplative attitude supplement each other. The formal standardization of justice, the state, the civil service, etc, signifies a similar structure of behavior and coconsciousness. The universal character of rationalization has to run up against internal limits:the contradiction between the content and the form, between the formal rationality of partial system and the irrationality of totality. The totality of concrete and dialectic reason is the basis of the critique of formal rationality.From the perspective of philosophy of history, the critique of reification is on the base of historical dialectics. The proletariat, as the subject and object of history can realize the immanent transcendence of reification structure. This means that, on the one hand, reification is formed historically. In capitalist society, only when labor-power becomes commodity, can reification constitutes the fate of man. On the other hand, due to the particular social existence of proletariat, the proletariat is not only the factors of forming reification, but the intrinsic factors of sublating reification. The self-consciousness of proletariat awakens in the dialectics of quality and quantity in labor time. This kind of consciousness is practical consciousness. In the concrete class struggle, the power of reified relations between men begins to revert to man.The Frankfurt school inherits and promotes the critique of reification from the perspective of critique of reason. In Horkheimer and Adorno, critique of reifaction is critique of instrumental reason. Habermas reestablish the normative basis from communicative reason. In his view, reification is the colonization of lifeworld. Honneth takes reification as forgetfulness of recognition.The critique of reification from critique of reason was criticized by Zizek. He revives the dimensions of philosophy of history. On the basis of contemporary radical philosophy, Zizek tries to reexplain proletariat’s universal history mission, restating that the key points of dialectics of history is to oppose the regularities of history in the context of knowledge, to seize the moment, and to take action to intervene history.The methodological aspect of Frankfurt school is the critique of normative base. Horkheimer and Adorno attempt to search for the possibility of emancipation in the field of labor. Habermas cuts off the correlation between instrumental-rational behavior and emanication, and reseeks emancipation from communicative rationality. Honneth reinterprets social conflict and the possibility of emancipation from theory of recognition. Critical theory has been committed to immanent transcendence from the normative base of critique. The research made by Frankfurt school indicates that revolution is unpractical in pre-theoretical praxis. The critique of reification from critique of reason proves the impossibility of revolution. Radical philosophy prefers the chance and opportunity to the necessity knowledge of history. From this aspect, it is very similar to political romanticism. Lukacs’ first theory of dialectic relationship between process and moment is different from opportunism, his second theory of totality of social structure and history is different from subjective imaginary totality, and his third theory of proletariat party is different from romantic subjectAt present, Lukacs’ most important contribution lies in taking on critique of reification from the perspective of interrelation of politics and economy, defending proletarian party as the political subject and promoting socialism democracy from the perspective of the universal history. |
