Marx’s inquiry and presentation: The pedagogical constellations of the Grundrisse and Capital

Abstract

This paper reads Marx’s distinction between the method of inquiry and presentation as distinct and Marxist pedagogical logics that take the form of learning and studying. After articulating the differences and their current conceptualizations in educational theory, I turn to different interpretations of the Grundrisse and Capital. While I note the differences, I maintain these result from Marx’s alternation between learning and studying, to the different weights Marx gives to both. Marx sought to understand, articulate, learn, and relay the precise logics of capital, of its contradictions, and of how the working class has and can seize on these contradictions to institute the revolutionary transition to communism. At the same time, he knew he couldn’t do this because no one can fully delineate and learn about capitalism so long as it exists, as capital is by definition a dynamic social relation. I show how readings of both books are products and productive of Marx’s own pedagogical constellation through their content and form of presentation. The argument is that this is a political and constellational pedagogy that’s contingent and singular rather than resolvable and unifiable.

Keywords:

• Studying
• Louis Althusser
• Antonio Negri
• Karl Marx
• marxist pedagogy
• marxist methodology

Acknowledgements

Some of the material from this article was originally published in ‘Marx’s pedagogies then and now: Research and Presentation’ on LiberationSchool.org.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.