Marx, Critique, Religion

This chapter focuses on the category of critique as this was taken over by Marx from his idealist philosophical predecessors. Adopting a genealogical perspective on critique inspired by Michel Foucault, the chapter argues that Marx attempted to repurpose a disposition and a practice from philosophy as weapons in the class struggle. Although Marx conceives this as a materialist move, Kirkpatrick argues that Marx’s critique retains strong connections with the philosophical tradition in which it was forged and, in particular, that it rests upon a form of subjectivity that was itself formed by the development of Christianity, with its emphasis on faithfulness to a revealed truth, bearing witness and the redemptive value of suffering.