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THE charact~ation ofpre-c"pitalfoUoWs the :dritici.m

ist S"l'ial epochs . poses riiajor
" . RENAISSANCE MAN.
. . . JIungarian.: seliolar. of
. problems "for a Marxist philosophy
. BY.Agnes HeUer. TDDsIated frO';;... . Kott). She'.has
of history. ~arx and Engels provide
the Hunprian.by R.E.AJlen. ,'developmtlit 'of'
o1)ly sketchy accounts of the main'Routledge Be .Kega,; PauL14.5()
the changes: in .
divis~ons of; ~C9n"'!lic history --'
'. autl)ority .
char.icteris~d
,the Asiatic, the
. . .'
.
......
~: ;.:~: ~l~~i.'::~[~
ancient,the feudal, and the modern.DERMar
dcvel0l.meril',
bc,urgeoii. mode. of'. production .
. Part :of the problem lie., as EngelS' .ion": in It3ly, and in the ad:"~t:'of
knew, in the relatively coric<aIed . capitalism in .England, HeUer clain.....
natUre' ';i :the ~cial'
ec~nomic
~.at it ~ best understood as .
.
problem. 'of the validity ~f period, .
. . . . . ..". . ' .
isation. in historic;al analysilo" AI:' .
a total social piOcCSI, extending from
~
no genuine
. though division. of history. 'mto .
. the social and economic sphere.where,
Il'lali is the 'focUsof atl,en,uo.n,:
general '. periodS ,is . indispensable.:.
\ . sOj;iety'. basic structUre."'" affected'
this n~ hurDalusma ~~;~~~:::,~f
the periods 'themselves. must J:i~ . . ' .to the. realm of culrur.., embracing . ed.'by.asCep*iam a .
.
constantly revised. Otherwisetl>a.:
c,;eryday life and evOryday'ways'of .. p;etY,Hellerdiscuc.:therise
is ,the ,danger 'that,. iIJ. :Sartrc"'s
.... : thinking, "moiaI practiCes_and ethical
individual tove, the breakdown.
phrase, the :attem,pt . .at totaIis3.tiOJi
idealS, formS of religious consciousnfamily.: "~tural" .relationS.: .
.
.
,
~,:. art -arid icierice. We "caD, reaDy..
may give . way. to' a scholasticiSm.
onlr. sPeak of a Renaissance' where
she .instances King:...,..) "
of the totality.' , .
. "
. '.'
aU ,h... appear<.! tOgether and'in
she instances K;"g~I.etn') and
. The Re~c~ i:s 9~~' such
the :same period, 'on the basis 'of
replacement -: by Covenants
problematic historiCal period. Marx
certain changes in social and economamong- equ1l1s . The gradu.al
himself :does not:':'differentiate it
~ structure: in:' -'It8Jy" Englaild,
. isation" of bourgt;ois life and
. as such. for. hiin.. it is a. periOd of
FIlUlce, and - partly - in the Neth' .. emergence . of the notion of
transition from' feudalism
to '
'Iands.'
.eternal, universal human nature
.capitalism. Since Ihirkhaicdt'. poetic
. It is unfortunate'that she ignores
. seen by. Heller .to hethc
champiotqng", of this ~riod' in' the
the religious' Renaissance in Ger: . contributions of the Rcnai.sanCSI
'.last centUry, a continuous ..debate
".many because the concep~ 'of- _to the-libci'ation'of man,,has raged
th,~ nature and extent
man it eVOlved, more naturalistic . HeUer's gQal:.~ -~c; .apl~
, ~C 'the ,. European ~enaissance. 'Did
and, at, the ~e time more' de~piy
n~tion of tlie et~y hu.ru.",,calIl
it begin in Italy? Where its roots, . spiritual than the same .. conceptl"ad, . somewhat ~':;::''::~~:ri(1
fu.the twelfth century? Was there
in-.ltaIYr is necessary. if .we are to th~ ,emergencC' of -the
a .Northern RenaiSsance?. What "understand the philosophy, of the
(and Maixist) undentanding
'.,' ."cxattly is 'm~ant by this ren.ewal?
, . C;:cnD,an Enlightenment.'
".
as lie ,~h.o,makcs~bistory.
Agnes HeUer;. a Hungari3D. phiI- i.' .JteUer' provi~es. amarvellou~'
.. Renaissance M_
osopher: and; oso.iologut who
.: ana!y,.;': Of "the .division between
in Hung3i'hin in' I
s~died under the.emment Gyorgy
. :toWn ;p,d ..'country. in 11'aly 'ill: lb.. . Iieeds' to' .be.. .
.Lukacs. 'approaches the historical
XIVth eentury, arguing that the
.'philo.oph~.rs have at;I:enlpted
question from a new point of view, . .. different fol1JlS of capital involved' . broad .. :.. ' investigation;
.. beginning.with a precise dete~-.
in the different city-states, are
bourgeois analysts' only
ation of the cultural superstructure
reflected in .the varied. arts . o.f. : deserves '~quaJ mention
of the period. She. disregards suel!.. . Venic~:and .Florence. Venice deve!- .'.' Hell~... Uer.,inve.tisation.
questions as the exact dating and
oped a . Mercanh1e' form.:. of
.is limited by her DqIIeet
extent of the ,RenaiSsance in
capitalism, tend . towards con' ,.scholarship~\,._,j.n
favour 'of" 0:' discussion .of lb.' servativiSm, and lacked . "c!ass- . debate. between
,
.RenaissanCe: concept: of man .a_ warfar.... Florence, on the "ther, ists. on the-, modes of prc>d.,ctii
'hand, developed .textile industries '\ .and. their historical illlita!ltiati'OJ!I
. . concept .. she' .. adduces from . the.
literature:.and .philosophy of. the
in a. capitalist manner,' thus . The : genCral , tone or,
time. The,Renaissance ,for.ber.is ~generati~ ,indus~ .capital,' and _ sunimed.' 'up in ,the
'a period 'of ~,'uneven development,t:' producing ~e, J"U'St_ gepuine,: Pr.<>= ~ - profound remarks.
broken. by conjunctions of inter.Ielariat in European . history -the
. With the Renaiuance
national .. lmpo~ce --, Luther's
woollen. workers called the 'Ciompi
proclamation,ihe defeat. of the
_ who revolted in 1378 and held
SpaliishArmada. While pursuing
.the city of Florence for.be weeks,
orthOdox' MarxiSt. line on .the
before being crushed;'The industrial
ec:on;'mic progress' of the period
expansion of_F1orencc~w.as.halted .
from . the Xillth' to the XVlth' by the .mortage of labQur, showing
centuri....h,, aUowsgreater .flexthat there is no universal tendency
ibility to enter her account. exfor feudalism to develop into,
p1aining why some feature. Of the
capitalism. In Florence, on a.'
Renaissan~e Un.particular the con~
cultural level,. painters ,were more
ceptualisation':of "'Creedom as a
versatile, many being also' im..,:
man u;,open
universal categorY) appear detached
portant architects, a factor deof everYthing, and'
.,-1nfinity" .
from their social. and economic
pendent
on
the
e'conomic
,rather than actual~
contexts in some countries, .and,
infrastructure oC thecity.
the impetuS for tIle
assu!1le a certaih .life of their
HeUer is at her best in dis<:usling
man which surfaced in
own. Despite the un,~en 'iI~velop-,
the concept of man which emerged."
ment .m the Reitaissance~, which
in. Petrarch, .Campanella, Pico and
Revolution and the declaral:ioi.
ended in a proc... of."refeudalisat." ',"evcn:'in ~Shakespeare XiVliCrc 'She"
the RightS 'of Man~

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