Still on This Side of the "Ontological Leap” – a Militant and Counterfactual Reading of the Elderly Lukács

Abstract

The post-millennium interpretation of Lukács continues to be strongly divided, but they seem to be almost in total accordance with judging the latter part of the oeuvre rather critically. The present paper belongs to the tradition that sees his political philosophy to be continuous throughout and in unity with itself. In the center is the brochure called The Process of Democratization, which I consider to be Lukács’s masterpiece from his latter phase. Since it could not exert its influence at the time of writing, it is more appropriate to give a kind of counterfactual reading thereof: what would have happened if, at the time of its creation, it could have become an integral part of the public discourse? In the last section of the paper, I argue that the consensually accepted tertium datur approach does not follow from Lukács’ oeuvre and it is not supported by the Democracy-brochure, either. Rather, it is characterized by the dichotomous structure that creates an irreconcilable opposition between the rule of the logic of capital and the possible transcending of this very logic. Staying faithful to the idea he had committed himself for life during the winter of 1918–19.