Page - 75 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 75 lowingHegel,negatedthedualismofSein (being)andSollen (ought), i.e.what is andwhatought tobe.Furthermore,he suspended theoppositionbetween causal and teleologicalperspectivesonwhich thesocialist ideaasaprinciple of objectivemustbebased.Aconsequenceof theMarxian ideawas that the scopeofthecausalprinciplewasillegitimatelyappliedtothesphereofmoral- ity,where,accordingtotheethicalsocialists,theteleologicalprincipleapplied. Basedontheirownassumptions, theMarburgiansattemptedtoreconcile the oppositionbetweenthe twomethodsdrawingonacore thesisof theirphilo- sophical system,namely theontological unityof subject andobject. Because of this, they viewedbothprinciples as general lawsofhumanconsciousness. Moreover, they regarded theprinciple of causality as amethodof regulating scientific cognition, and the teleological principle as one of practical cogni- tion.Intheirunderstanding,thetwoprincipleswerenotonlyreconcilable,but alsocomplementary,astheypertainedtodifferentrealmsofexistence.Cohen based thisargumentontheclaimthat the realplayof forcesandmoral ideas are types of pure consciousness – hence, therewas no basis to differentiate betweenthetwoasMarxismhaddone.60Fromtheseclaims,Cohen–andlater hisdisciples–drewafar-reachingconclusion: ifoneadequatelymodifiedhis- toricalmaterialism(i.e.idealistically),onecouldmergeitwiththeviewpointof Kantianismwithoutcontradictions.Thus, itwouldbecomepossible torectify Marxism’s fundamentalerror, i.e. the lackofanindependentandcreativerole forethical ideas.Forthispurpose, it issufficienttocomplementMarxismwith Kant’sethical ideal. Before we continue, let us note that theMarburgians’ efforts to employ KantianethicstojustifysocialismplayedthemostcrucialroleinBauer’sethical considerations. In their view, the neo-Kantians attempted to invoke Kant’s theses that prefigured socialist ideas and demonstrated unity in themode of thought. TheMarburg School’smost passionate proponent of uniting the theoriesofKantandMarxwasKarlVorländer,whowasclosest to theSocial- Democraticmovement amongneo-Kantians.61 Vorländer viewedKant as the experience.MariaSzyszkowskainterestinglydepictstheneo-KantiancritiqueofMarxism inSzyszkowska1970,pp.78–87. 60 SeeCohen1921,p.39. 61 The author of a series of lectures about socialismat theUniversity ofMünster in 1914, co-author of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany’s Görlitz programmeof 1912. He dedicatedaseparatetexttotherelationshipbetweenthetheoriesofKantandMarx–see Vorländer1926.Inanothertext,heobserved:‘Thewayofliberalism,inthetruesenseofthe word, leadsnot justhistorically, butalso logically toMarx’ (our translation)–Vorländer 1920,p.46.