Louis Althusser
 
Politics and History
 
Montesquieu,
Rousseau, Hegel and Marx

 
 
Translated from the French by Ben Brewster

 

 

'Montesquieu: Politics and History' first published
by Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1959,
© PUF,1959; 'The Social Contract' first published in
Cahiers pour l'Analyse, no. 8: L'Impensé de Jean-
Jacques Rousseau
, n.d., © Le Graphe; 'Marx's Relation
to Hegel' first published in Hegel et la Pensée
Moderne
by Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1970,
© PUF, 1970.
 
This translation first published, 1972
© NLB, 1972
 


Prepared © for the Internet by David J. Romagnolo,
djr@marx2mao.org (July 2003)

 


Acknowledgments   6

Translator's note   7
 
 

Part One
 

MONTESQUIEU: POLITICS AND HISTORY
 

Foreword   13

1.

A Revolution in Method   17

2.

A New Theory of Law   31

3.

The Dialectic of History   43

4.

'There are Three Governments . . .'   61

5.

The Myth of the Separation of Powers   87

6.

Montesquieu's Parti Pris   96


Conclusion   107

Bibliography   108
 
 

Part Two
 

ROUSSEAU: THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
 

Foreword   113

1.

Posing the Problem   116

2.

The Solution of the Problem: Discrepancy I   125

3.

The Contract and Alienation   135

4.

Total Alienation and Exchange: Discrepancy II   140

5.
 

Particular Interest and General Interest,
Particular Will and General Will: Discrepancy III   146

6.
 
 
 

Flight Forward in Ideology or
Regression in the Economy: Discrepancy IV   155
 
 


Part Three
 

MARX'S RELATION TO HEGEL   161
 

Index   187






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