Page - 53 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 53 materialismlayinindicatingthewaysandmeanstochangetheexistingsocio- economicorder; itwasalsoan instrument towhichSocialDemocracyhad to refer if itendeavouredtomakesocialismareality.18 Bauerwasparticularlyabsorbedinthequestionaboutthescientificnature ofMarxism.Beforeweengageinanyfurtherdiscussion,weshouldunderstand thatBauer’s viewofMarxismwasdefinedparticularly bypositivismand sci- entism. According to Bauer, HermannCohen had already posed the crucial openingquestion:whatisMarxism–ascienceoranideology?Thereplythatit wasbothascienceandanideologywasdifficult toaccept forBauerandother Marxists informedbythe intellectual climateof the time.However, thewide- spreadbelief that itwasasciencepromptedthequestionastowhatscientific model itwasbasedon,whilealsopointing toamoregeneralquery:whatcri- teriadoesknowledgeneedtofulfil inordertobeconsideredscientific? It isworthstressingthat,whenaddressingthis issue,Bauerdidnotaddress essential questions about the relationshipbetween social reality andnature, theoryandempiricalevidence,anddeductiveandinductiveapproaches.They appeared, however, in his observations on the economic development, class structure and national question. Bauer took a critical stance towards Karl Menger’sscientificmodel,whichwaswidespreadamongAustrianscientistsat thetime.19Itwasbasedonthemethodofabstractionanddeduction,operating onthepremisethatthecategoriesestablishedbyaparticulartheorydecisively shape theprocess and results of acquiringknowledge. Inhis ownattempt to defineamodelofscientificknowledge,Bauerdrewonahistoricalmethodsug- gestedby thehistorianKarlGrünberg,whohaddeveloped itharkingback to J.S.Mill’s position. Its coreprinciplewas to examinediagnosed social condi- tions in order to drawconclusions about their causes, i.e. it was the science 18 Hence, asDetlevAlbers convincingly argued, Bauer put special emphasis on twoprin- ciples: (1) thedevelopmentofMarxismasasocial scienceandguide forpracticalaction; and(2)therolethistheoryplayedinrevolutionisingthepoliticalconsciousnessofthepro- letariatandmaintainingtheunityoftheworkers’movement.SeeAlbers1985,pp.77–8. 19 KarlMenger (1840–1921) – founder of theAustrian school of political economy.Hewas interestednot in theproductionof goods, but in their exchange.Heplacedan investig- ation into the formationof prices in the exchangeprocess at the centre of his analysis andviewedpricesas the result of individual evaluationsof theusefulnessof exchanged goodsonthemarket.Mengerunderstoodeconomyasanetworkofbundledmarketsand economic activity as a result of actions by individual economic subjects.Mainworks: Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre andUntersuchungen über dieMethode der Sozial- wissenschaften undder politischenÖkonomie insbesondere (Principles of Economics and Research into theMethods of Social Science, particularly Political Economy). SeeMenger 1981and1985.