Page - 61 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 61 MaxAdler,thattheprocessofgainingknowledgeoccurredthroughtheagency ofasupra-individualconsciousnessexpressed inapriori socialised individual consciousness.Hesoonrevisedhispositionanddeclaredthattherewereapri- ori,socio-historicallydivergentcognitiveforms: ‘Therenotonlyexistsasociala prioriofhumanknowledgeingeneral,but…alsoaspecialsocialaprioriofeach historical epoch, each social order, and each class’ (our translation).35 Bauer interpretedtheKantianapproachashistoricalandcreditedhimselfwithbuild- ingabridgefromKantianismtoMarxism.This ‘achievement’ofBauer’s,which wasdevoidofanyscientificvalue,didnotmeetwiththeslightest interestfrom Marxist theoristsorSocialDemocrats. From1916–17, theyearsduringwhichhewroteTheWorldviewofCapitalism, Bauer began to critically examineKantianism, its socio-historical determin- ants,anditslimitations.In1924,intheprefacetothesecondeditionofhistext, TheQuestion ofNationalities andSocialDemocracy, hewrote: ‘It was only in thecontextof later studies that I learned tograspcriticalphilosophyas itself ahistoricalphenomenon, therebyovercomingmyKantianchildhoodmalady and at the same time also revisingmymethodological viewpoint’.36 In The WorldviewofCapitalism,Bauer,followingMarx’sdirectivetoinvestigatethehis- torical evolutionandsocial conditioningofphilosophical ideas, attempted to explainwhythebourgeois intelligentsiaandMarxistswerebothappealing to Kant.37Hepointedouthoweconomicandphilosophicalknowledgewascon- ditionedbysocio-economicandhistorical factors.Theeconomicandpolitical declineof liberalismwas followedbyaperiodoforganisedcapitalism. In the field of philosophy, scientificmaterialismwas supersededbypositivismand relativism.Scientificknowledgewasnolongeragoal initself: itwasutilisedto build capitalism,make socio-economic lifemoreefficient, and thus facilitate capitalism’s freedevelopment. For this purpose, it took lawmaking as its ref- erencepoint,understoodas the legislativeparliamentarypractice thatpasses laws to secure the effectiveness of economic enterprise. Thenewworldview triumphedovermechanicalmaterialism;when facedwith thedemiseof the latter,agenerationofMarxistsstillclingingtointellectualcategoriestypicalof earlycapitalismattheturnofthenineteenthcenturyresortedtoKant. 35 ‘Es gibt also nicht nur ein Sozialapriori dermenschlichen Erkenntnis überhaupt, son- dern … auch besondere Sozialapriori jeder Geschichtsepoche, jeder Gesellschaftsord- nung, jederKlasse’–Bauer1961,p.232. 36 Bauer1996,p.7. 37 This beingMarx’s notion, in TheHoly Family, that the history of ideas is intrinsically conditionedbythehistoryofproduction.SeeKołakowski2005,p. 125.