The Construction Of "Emancipatory Knowledge"

Abstract: Terry Eagleton is the most outstanding British theorist of Western_Marxism after Willams, cultural critic theorist and literary theorist in the contemporary world of western literary theory .He is always acting as an orthodox Marxism and the leftist of Marxism. Being hold and develop the Marxism made his theory ingenious and himself attract most attenti of international academic community currently. "Ideology", a hard question in the history of theory that different people have different oppions, is the theory basis of Eagleton's idea, it is also the core category of his cultural criticism, the presupposition of his thought of literary and aesthetics. Because of his full deploitation and dig to the concept's complexity , his study about literary and aesthetics problems appears to have a unique style. So, this paper will firstly focus on the foundation of his theory through close reading Eagleton's important works, abstract his discussions about this important concept, then summarize from macro to micro, carefully finishing, analyzing and epitomizing these questions. so that Eagleton's "Ideology" idea can be wholely presented. The paper is divided into three different parts, the second is the key one, which contains another four segments.The preface mainly traces back to Eagleton's family background and scholarship process, points out the basic problems and the inside logic of the text.In the first part, we investigate Eagleton's theory of ideology from 60s to 70s. In 70s, Eagleton is deeply influenced by Authusser, primarily concentrating on the relationship between literature text and ideology,and try to establish the scientific system of marxism criticism.In 1980s,he gradually abandons the theory of Authusser,starts to emphasize interfering with the realistic conflict by radical political.In 1990s, Eagleton defines ideology from society , power , discouse and so on . In this period, he puts forward "asthetic ideology" from a vaster level .In a word, Eagleton wants to describe the origin and constitution of ideology on the one hand, on the other , he expects that the people can understand themselves and break the tie of ideology by grasping this kind of knowledge. Eagleton's theory of ideology just trys to establish the "liberation of knowledge".In the second part, we will research the core problem in Eagleton's theory of...