This study examines philosophical questions regarding the limitations of formalism and how they might be overcome. It presents a critical reconstruction of the early work of Georg Lukács, which attempted to supplement a unique form of aesthetic cultural critique with a Dostoyevskian-styled ethical utopia. Demonstrating the unity and the aporias of this two-track approach, it sheds new light on Lukács’s Marxist turn at the end of 1918.
This study examines philosophical questions regarding the limitations of formalism and how they might be overcome. It presents a critical reconstruction of the early work of Georg Lukács, which attempted to supplement a unique form of aesthetic cultural critique with a Dostoyevskian-styled ethical utopia. Demonstrating the unity and the aporias of this two-track approach, it sheds new light on Lukács’s Marxist turn at the end of 1918.