Reseña

Marx held that, unlike the utopian socialism of the past and the various socialist and anarchist proposals of his own day, his contribution was distinguished by being scientific. His theoretical work crossed from the marshy ground of doctrine to the firm terrain of science. Marxian thought, Marx himself proclaimed, possessed scientific status. This, in his view, was its fundamental distinguishing feature—the very feature that would later become one of the great attractions that Marxism seemed to offer so many theorists.
Yet, in the interest of rigor, one is bound to ask: What are the criteria of scientific status on which this claim rests? What is the concept of science that Marx proposes? And does his contribution truly conform to it?
The essays gathered in this book, which set out to answer these crucial questions, form part of the research Echeverría carried out in the late 1970s and which served as the basis for his doctoral thesis at the University of London. Today, for the first time, they are brought together in a single volume. The conclusions the author reaches will not fail to surprise us, and will hardly leave us indifferent. We hope they may be capable of provoking reactions and debate, so as to advance toward an assessment that situates the work of Marx—that great thinker—in its rightful place, beyond either idolatry or demonization.