Science and society : A prolegomenon to the study of Marx's method.

This Thesis is concerned with developing Marx's method in outline. It suggests that this aim determines a definite approach to the question of method, one which is to be found in Marx's study of the 'laws of motion' of capitalist society. It argues that Marx's method is not a method of abstraction, but it is grounded on a critique of abstraction arising out of the forms of its subject matter, viz., the capitalist mode of production. It also argues that there is an immanent relationship between form and content, method and substance. The Introductory Remarks attempt to develop a critical assessment of some of the most important contributions to our present understanding of Marx's method, and to argue the case for a reappraisal of Marx's method along the lines of inserting it in his concept of modern society. The Chapters grouped in Part I are intended to discuss the possibility of this approach to the study of Marx's method by examining the methodological assumptions underlying the views of A. Smith and D. Ricardo, together with Marx's critique of them; and Hegel’s concept of method, and the role it plays within his philosophy as a whole. Part II discusses Marx's concept of method in outline, as it develops out of the most essential forms of capitalist society, understood as an organic system of social reproductive relations. Marx's method, is concluded, is an aspect of this totality of social reproductive relations