Volume 2, 1976
George Ellard
Pages 372-390
The Language of Politics
This paper deals with Marx's claim that he has presented a scientific or non-ideological account of social problems. Having explained what an ideology is for Marx, I criticize those of his followers who view possible understandings of the world as self- inclosed language games which can offer no justification for their validity except by appealing to the rules of the particular language game in question. To show that Marx would be dissatisfied with the relativism implicit in the more contemporary position, I compare his analysis of history to Hegel's Phenomenology and argue that the latter work is useful in understanding why one particular mode of thought is seen as non-perspectival or scientific.