Un marxisme anglais. À propos d'une nouvelle interprétation du matérialisme historique

An English Marxism. About a new interpretation of the historical materialism It is argued that G. A. Cohen's book Karl Marx's Theory of History : A Defence (Oxford, University Press, 1978) represents a breakthrough in the conceptual analysis of historical materialism. Cohen offers both a largely convincing interpretation of the main tenets of Marx's doctrine, and a somewhat more controversial defence of the doctrine as thus interpreted. Over and above the contribution to Marxist studies the book will attract attention by its novel and sophisticated defence of functionalist explanation. Cohen argues that it is possible to explain social phenomena in terms of their beneficial consequences even if one does not have precise knowledge about the underlying feedback mechanism. To this argument it is objected that some knowledge about the mechanism is required to distinguish spurious from explanatory correlations.Elster Jon. Un marxisme anglais. À propos d'une nouvelle interprétation du matérialisme historique. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 36ᵉ année, N. 5, 1981. pp. 745-757