This is the official Blog for the Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies based at the University of Sheffield and maintained by Peter Thompson. I shall be posting various issues and points on here for discussion as well as providing a forum for discussion of matters relating to Bloch and the wider world of Philosophy.
Fragen und Beitraege koennen sowohl auf Deutsch als auf Englisch gestellt oder gesendet werden und ich freue mich auf eine rege Dikussion auf diesen Seiten!
Peter Thompson
AAAH this site is a good one. Thank you I will book-mark this!
I’ve really enjoyed stumbling upon this blog, I chanced upon it after reading a little bit about Bloch.
I am a 23 year old mature student about to begin (for the second time) an Undergraduate course in Sociology and Politics at Leeds University (I had previously completed a Social Sciences Foundation Year). My main interests Sociologically are Marxism. I have made the transition from following a more deterministic Troskyist position, to a uncertain search for a more wider comprehension of Marxism, perusing Luckacs, Zizek, Debord, Balibar and so on – I should highlight, that the more I learn, the more I become aware of the limitations of my knowledge, and indeed the undisciplined manner through which I acquire knowledge (which I hope to improve over the coming weeks, by delving into some of the fundamental texts of modern philosophy, like Descarte’s Meditations, Kant’s prolegomena, even – hopefully – going so far as making a proper start on Hegel, which I had looked over bits of the Phenemonology, and the Philosophy of Right, but have mostly been left more perplexed after each reading).
From the miniscule amount I’ve read, Bloch strikes me as having made some interesting contributions in the field of Marxism which I hope one day to be able to take in properly. I was looking at the price of ‘The Principles of Hope’, and they seem beyond my price range to get at the moment, and I was wondering whether there would be any intentions to perhaps publish cheaper versions that you know of?
Hi, you sound to have taken pretty much the same trajectory as me. I started as a mature student at 23 and am now a recovering Trot
Yes, the Bloch books are expensive but maybe the library has them at Leeds and if not you could get your supervisor to order them. The Bloch Centre at Sheffield is working on translating some more of Bloch over the coming years and we hope to make the paperback versions more affordable. Other than that I would say keep your eyes on the second hand market.
Peter
Hi there,
I wasn’t really sure where to put this, but as you mention translations I figure I’ll ask here – do you know if anyone plans to translate Bloch’s Experimentum Mundi in the near future? I know there was one chapter translated for Telos in the 1970s but it seems nothing further..
Thank you for the site in any case, great reading!
Hey Peter thanks for the reply. = ) I checked the library website and they had a few translations of his work, though there seemed to be more untranslated texts – and well, when it comes to languages; je ne comprends pas…
I think Trotskyism, and Leninism do have their place, but I suppose now I’m just apprehensive about the dogmatism prevalent in a lot of the Leftist groups – even though I think they do perform vital roles in particular struggles.
David, yes EM is going to be one of the first texts we translate for an ongoing project with Brill/Historical Materialism to eventually translate the complete works. Might take a while though!
Sam, yes, I agree. I left the Trot movement some time ago because of the dogmatism and sectarianism involved and also, to be frank, the political irrelevance of much of what I was expending my energies on.