Intellectual systems fuse first in lived reality, only later in thought

Evidence

THE CUSTOMARY description of the Critique of Dialectical Reason as an attempt to reconcile existentialism and Marxism has always seemed to me to betray a fundamental naïveté about the relationship of thought in general, and political thought in particular, to our being as a whole, to that total human reality of which it is an expression. Intellectual systems are not here opinions which can be tinkered with, adjusted, manipulated until we somehow manage to fit them together properly; and such an operation is all the more ironic when it takes as its object two philosophical approaches which explicitly deny the priority of thought over being (existentialism with the principle that existence precedes essence, Marxism with the teaching of the determination of consciousness by social reality). It seems to me, indeed, that the situation is quite the reverse of what is implied above: the very project of such a “reconciliation” is the sign that it already has been effected in lived reality, that somehow a lived synthesis of the two systems exists already, preceding, motivating, and founding the purely intellectual working out of the synthesis in the domain of thought. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 421 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Does this mean that, as Habermas puts it, abstract systems “colonise” a pre-existing “life-world,” subordinating personal decisions to technical expertise? It does not. The reasons are twofold. One is that modern institutions do not just implant themselves into a “life-world,” the residues of which remain much the same as they always were. Changes in the nature of day-to-day life also affect the dis-embedding mechanisms, in a dialectical interplay. The second reason is that technical expertise is continuously reappropriated by lay agents as part of their routine dealings with abstract systems. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 347 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: The perceived intellectual reconciliation of philosophies is founded on a prior lived synthesis — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 421; Speculative thought arises inside the proposition rather than through a separate form — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1139; Deep intellectual study initially captivates the whole personality before critical equilibrium forms — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1360 (+3 more)

Related

• The perceived intellectual reconciliation of philosophies is founded on a prior lived synthesis (similarity 0.88)
• Abstract systems do not colonise the life-world but interact dialectically with it (similarity 0.81)
• Understanding thought-becoming-epoch requires more than intellectual history (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The perceived intellectual reconciliation of philosophies is founded on a prior lived synthesis #corroborates (0.95) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 421
• Abstract systems do not colonise the life-world but interact dialectically with it #corroborates (0.80) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 347
• Suppressing the affective origins of thought yields intellectual sterility #expands (0.78)
• Speculative thought arises inside the proposition rather than through a separate form #expands (0.75) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1139
• Theory can emerge inductively from long collective research rather than precede it #corroborates (0.75)
• Deep intellectual study initially captivates the whole personality before critical equilibrium forms #exemplifies (0.72) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1360