The Politics of Historical Vision: Marx, Foucault, Habermas

Rating:
Summary: Exclnt intro to 3 philosophers ideas on history and society
Review: This little known and under-rated book is a great place to start for someone interested in the post modern philosophy of history and society. If you want to learn about the ideas of Marx, Foucault and Habermas, and what they mean in current philosophy, but don't want to commit to their difficult, lengthy and sometimes down right awful prose, Steve Best will explain in a readable fashion some of their most discussed ideas. I approached the book with that goal in mind and I think it served that purpose very well. However, if you do not like to consider ideas in the abstract, this book, and perhaps philosophy itself, may not be for you.

There are references to many other philosophical figures (Kant, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Debord, Dilthey and many, many more) whose ideas were precursors or points of contention to the three reviewed in The Politics of Historical Vision, and which either ground or contrast the modern concepts with their prior and current milieux.

The book can also serve as a starting point for those with an interest in philosophy, it is a nice way to survey social and historical philosophy and become acqainted with the ideas of many thinkers. This is also one of the books strengths, and I found it very rewarding.

The book requires careful attention in some parts, to grasp the more complicated ideas, but does so without dragging on and on, reiterating the same point too many times. Best has done an excellent job here, making a rather difficult subject more accessible and giving the reader new ways to think about history as an engaging subject and how it can be manipulated to serve a purpose, beneficial or not to larger social interests.

It has been a while since I read it, so that accounts for the lack of detailed analysis in this short review.