In contrast to mainstream Marxists, Marx persistently refused to consider communism as “constitutive idea (or constitutive use of reason)” in Kant’s sense, and he rarely spoke of the future. Thus in The German Ideology, Marx made an addition to the text written by Engels: “Communism for us is not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the now existing premise.”5 Therefore, the dogmatization of communism as a “scientific socialism” was much the kind of metaphysics Marx refuted. But this is not contradictory to the fact that he nurtured communism as “regulative idea (regulative use of reason).” So the young Marx stressed the categorical imperative: “The criticism of religion ends with the teaching that man is the highest being for man, hence with the categorical imperative to overthrow all relations in which man is a debased, enslaved, forsaken, despicable being.”6 For him, communism was a Kantian categorical imperative, that is, practical and moral par excellence. He maintained this stance his whole life, though later he concentrated his efforts on the theoretical search for the historico-material conditions that would enable the categorical imperative to be realized.
Meanwhile, the mainstream Marxists, having derided morality and advocated “historical necessity” and “scientific socialism,” ended up constituting a new type of slave society. This was nothing short of what Kant called “all pretensions of reason in general [aller Anmaßungen der Vernunft überhaupt].” Distrust of communism has spread, and the responsibility for “the true source of all unbelief” lies with dogmatic Marxism. One cannot and should not forget the miseries of the twentieth century caused by communism, nor should one take this mistake simply as misfortune. From that juncture onward we have not been allowed to advocate ‘Idea’ of any kind—not even of the New Left, which came into existence by negating Stalinism—with a naive positivity. That is why “in accordance with the fashion of the age, [communism] proves despised on all ideas.” Yet at the same time, other kinds of dogmatism are flourishing in various costumes. Furthermore, while intellectuals of advanced nations have been expressing their distrust of morality, various kinds of religious fundamentalism have begun to gain strength all over the world, and the intellectuals cannot simply scorn them.
- Koji Karatani, Transcritique on Kant and Marx
Meanwhile, the mainstream Marxists, having derided morality and advocated “historical necessity” and “scientific socialism,” ended up constituting a new type of slave society. This was nothing short of what Kant called “all pretensions of reason in general [aller Anmaßungen der Vernunft überhaupt].” Distrust of communism has spread, and the responsibility for “the true source of all unbelief” lies with dogmatic Marxism. One cannot and should not forget the miseries of the twentieth century caused by communism, nor should one take this mistake simply as misfortune. From that juncture onward we have not been allowed to advocate ‘Idea’ of any kind—not even of the New Left, which came into existence by negating Stalinism—with a naive positivity. That is why “in accordance with the fashion of the age, [communism] proves despised on all ideas.” Yet at the same time, other kinds of dogmatism are flourishing in various costumes. Furthermore, while intellectuals of advanced nations have been expressing their distrust of morality, various kinds of religious fundamentalism have begun to gain strength all over the world, and the intellectuals cannot simply scorn them.
- Koji Karatani, Transcritique on Kant and Marx
