RICERCA ITALIANA     

Issues of German classical philosophy: edition of texts and critical studies

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Abstract

Betwenn the issues of German classical philosophy this project intends to study the development of Marx's and Engels' thought.
The events of recent history have led to take off the validity of ideological-dogmatic readings on this thought. This fact gives us back the opportunity of a new and more rigorous appraisal of these thinkers as real classics in our culture, at the same time keeping in mind the persisting value of many kind of interpretations and of critical and interpretative instruments that these two authors can still offer in analysing present reality. By this way we have to resume a theorical and philological tradition so important in Italy as it has given origin to notable works even on the international level. Our great task is to move on in editing Marx - Engels "Complete Works" (from now MEOC). The edition was started a few years ago by Editori Riuniti in Rome and then stopped (the work may be started again with the same publisher Editori Riuniti, or, if they changed their editing project, with some other publisher we'll find reliable and ready to undertake the work). The MEOC edition is mainly based on the german Marx-Engels Werke (MEW) and on the later english edition Marx-Engels Collected Works (CW); she could take into account only partially the great critical work of the new Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (the so called MEGA2) prepared following the most modern criteria of textual critic. This edition, earlier interrupted, was started again some years >>>

Principal Investigator

Mario CINGOLI Università degli Studi di MILANO-BICOCCA

Research Objectives

The fundamental aim of the research program is to continue the italian edition of Marx-Engels "Works" (MEOC), of which only 32 volumes of the 50 foreseen have been published, before the abandoning of the project. The MEOC edition is mainly based on the german Marx-Engels Werke (MEW)and on the later english edition Marx-Engels Collected Works (CW); it could take into account only partially the great critical work of the new Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (the so called MEGA2) prepared following the most modern criteria of textual critic. This edition, earlier interrupted, was started again some years ago thanks to an international effort. Our project's aim is, first of all, to fill the gaps caused by the fact that the italian work has not been carried out, basing ourselves, where possible, on the already published volumes of MEGA2 (the natural continuation may then consist in re-examining that part of the ended work still based on MEW and on CW). Through this edition we want to offer a reliable and updated instrument not only for specialists, who can consult the critical edition and the original texts, but also for the general scholar, even not philologist or however not specialist of the Marx-Engels-Forschung. In other words, as V. Zimmerli has well said, the point is to give the italian reader the chance to read Marx and Engels as "classics of the history of philosophy". More in detail, as far as this edition is concerned, we intend to publish the following volumes:
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First Results

As we have said, the Program will take place in only one phase: the expected results are therefore the ones above described.

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

Since the middle of the sixties it emerged in the most of Europe a renewed interest in the works of Marx and Engels, that led to new and relevant readings and interpretations of their thought. The most important achievement of such process was the progressive detachment of the thought of Marx and Engels from marxism as a ideological and dogmatic apparatus.
Such new readings and interpretations have insisted both on critical-filological analysis and on theoretical investigation.
Of great relevance was the constitution of Imes (Internationale Marx-Engels-Stiftung), located at Amsterdam, that gave a basic contribution to start again the "Neue Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe" (MEGA2), interrupted after the events of 1989.
The MEGA2, started in 1975, committed itself with great merit in the enterprise of a historical and critical edition of the works of Marx and Engels already started between the two wars, the so called MEGA1, and then interrupted in the age of Stalin.
We cannot forget of course that, at least for the volumes published before 1989, the MEGA2 was commissioned by the German Democratic Republic and by the Soviet Union, where marxism was the State ideology: we thus will have to clean up this part of the edition - whose level of filological and scientific reliability is however very high - from the remnants of ideological influences. We will first consider the two critical edition MEGA1 and MEGA2, then the edition Marx-Engels "Werke" (MEW) aimed >>>