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Paul Nolan Levine and Sober: A Rejoinder Introduction Wha tever attitude we take towards t he kind o f historical materialism defended by G.A. Cohen, and towards the analytical techniques that he used to defend it, the publication of Karl Marx’s Theory of History represented a watershed in discussion of historical materialism. 1 Cohen propounded a strong, though not unqualied, historical materialism, in which societies undergo a series of changes in form, from pre-class society to precapitalist class society to capitalist society. These changes are (functionally) explained by the propensity of these successive social forms to enhance productive power, given the level of productive power already in existence. 2 The consensus that emerged during the debates t hat fo llow ed the bo o k’s public ation, how ever, was that such an ambitious doctrine could not be sustained. Perhaps under the barrage of criticism that the book received, Cohen himself subsequently developed doubts and reservations about the book’s central claims. 3 Levine’s and Sober ’s ‘What’s Historical Historical Materialism , volume 11:3 (183–200) © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2003 Also available online – www.brill.nl 1 Cohen 1978. 2 Cohen 1988, pp. 3–36. 3 Cohen 1988, pp. 109–79.
Historical Materialism – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2003
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