Daniel Bensaïd and the new writing of history: Karl Marx as critic of historicism

Abstract

The twilight of 20th century came accompanied by the death decree on Karl Marx’s thought. The defeats of the emancipatory bets questioned the potentiality of the Marxist tradition to carry them forward. In Untimely Marx, Daniel Bensaïd takes again the reading of the philosopher from Treveris, to erect a narrative that, while recovering its fundamental categories, questions the narratives offered by the orthodoxy of official Marxism, tacking note of the theoretical arguments and the historical experiences that interpellated, challenged and / or transform Marx’s thought. For purposes of this article, we will focus on the specific exposure and the evaluation of arguments by Bensaïd refutes Karl Popper’s criticism of Marx’s theory of history, taking into account the potentiality that this refutation offers for the recovery of the theory of history that allows the critical thought on our present.