Historical materialism

Historical materialism is conspicuously absent from contemporary methodological approaches to the history of political thought. To date, there has not been a unified Marxist “school” dedicated to the systematic exegesis of texts considered foundational or canonical in the history of political thought. This chapter assesses the possibility and preconditions for such an approach. First, it examines its theoretical precursors in the writings of Marx and Engels and the contributions of Ellen Meiksins Wood. It then posits some methodological parameters for a Marxist approach to the history of political thought, based on distinct discursive levels: the conjunctural level, within which “canonical” texts are embedded; the secondary level of professional and disciplinary knowledge production; and the tertiary level of historical materialism itself as a theoretical framework. Taken together, these three levels of analysis allow us to understand texts as products of their material conditions of existence that, despite their ideological character, nevertheless retain a certain degree of autonomy.Marxism; Historical materialism; Ideology: Superstructure; Social history of political thought