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:·M·······n:··'····· .' a·· Is The Measure

THE charact~ation ofpre-c"pital- foUoWs the : dritici.m ist S"l'ial· epochs . poses riiajor " . RENAISSANCE MAN. . . . JIungarian.: seliolar. of

. problems "for a Marxist philosophy . BY.Agnes HeUer. TDDsIated frO';;... . Kott). She'.has of history. ~arx and Engels provide the Hunprian.by R.E.AJlen •. · ,'developmtlit 'of' o1)ly sketchy accounts of the main'Routledge Be .Kega,; PauL£14.5() the changes: in . divis~ons of; ~C9n"'!lic history --' '. autl)ority •. char.icteris~d ,l!t: ,the Asiatic, ·the· . . .' . ...... ~: ;.:~: ~l~~i.'::~[~ ancient,the feudal, and the modern.··DERMar· MORAN,., dcvel0l.meril', bc,urgeoii. mode. of'. production .

. Part :of the problem lie., as EngelS' .ion": in It3ly, and in the ad:"~t:'of knew, in the relatively coric<aIed . capitalism in .England, HeUer clain ..... natUre' ';i :the ~cial' and" ec~nomic ~.at it ~ best understood as . . problem. 'of the validity ~f period, . ..... ..". .'. isation.· in historic;al analysilo" AI:' . a total social piOcCSI, extending from ~ '.VaS: no genuine

. though division. of history. 'mto . . the social and economic sphere.where, Il'lali is the 'focUsof atl,en,uo.n,: general '. periodS ,is . indispensable.:. \ . sOj;iety'. basic structUre."'" affected' this n~ hurDalusma ~~;~~~:::,~f the periods 'themselves. must J:i~ ..' .to the. realm of culrur.., embracing . ed.'by.a·sCep*iam a. . constantly revised. Otherwisetl>a.: c,;eryday life and evOryday'ways'of · .. p;etY,·Hellerdiscu •• c.:therise· is ,the ,danger· 'that,. iIJ. :Sartrc"'s .... : thinking, "moiaI practiCes_and ethical individual· tove, the breakdown. phrase, the :attem,pt . .at totaIis3.tiOJi idealS, formS of religious consciousn- family.: "~tural" .relationS.: . . . , ~,:. art -arid icierice. We "caD, reaDy .. may give . way. to' a scholasticiSm. onlr. sPeak of a Renaissance' where she .instances King:...,..) " of the totality.' , . . " . '.' aU ·,h ... appear<.! tOgether and'in she instances K;"g~I.etn') and

. The Re~c~ i:s 9~~' such the : same period, 'on the basis 'of replacement -: by Covenants problematic historiCal period. Marx certain changes in social and econom- among- equ1l1s •. The gradu.al himself :does not:':'differentiate it ~ structure: in:' -'It8Jy" Englaild, . isation" of bourgt;ois life and

. as such. for. hiin .. it is a. periOd of FIlUlce, and - partly - in the Neth' .. emergence . of the notion of transition from' feudalism to ' '«Iands.' .- eternal, universal human nature .capitalism. Since Ihirkhaicdt'. poetic . It is unfortunate'that she ignores . seen by. Heller .to hethc champiotqng", of this ~riod' in' the the religious' Renaissance in Ger·: . contributions of ·the Rcnai.sanCSI '.last centUry, a continuous .. debate ".many because the concep~ 'of- _·to the-libci'ation'of man,,-has raged on th,~ nature and extent man it eVOlved, more naturalistic . HeUer's· gQal:.~ -~c; .apl~

, ~C 'the ,. European ~enaissance. 'Did and, at, the ~e time more' de~piy n~tion of tlie et~y hu.ru.",·,c·alIl it begin in Italy? Where its roots, . spiritual than the same .. conceptl"ad, . somewhat ~':;::''::~~:ri(1 fu.the twelfth century? Was there in-.ltaIYr is necessary. if .we are to· th~ ,emergencC' of -the a .Northern RenaiSsance?. What· "understand the philosophy, of the (and Maixist) undentanding

'.,' ."cxattly is 'm~ant by this ren.ewal? , . C;:cnD,an Enlightenment.' ". as lie ,~h.o,makcs~bistory. Agnes HeUer;. a Hungari3D. phiI- i.' .JteUer' provi~es. amarvellou~' .. Renaissance M_

osopher: and; oso.iologut·· who .: ana!y,.;': Of "the .division between in Hung3i'hin in' I s~died under the.emment Gyorgy . :toWn ·;p,d .. 'country. in 11'aly 'ill: lb.. . Iieeds' to' .be.. .

.Lukacs. 'approaches the historical XIVth eentury, arguing that the ·.'philo.oph~.rs have at;I:enlpted question from a new point of view, . .. different fol1JlS of capital involved' . broad .. : .. ' investigation;

.. beginning.with a precise dete~-. in the different city-states, are bourgeois analysts' only ation of the cultural superstructure reflected in . the varied. arts . o.f. : deserves '~quaJ mention of the period. She. disregards suel!.. . Venic~:and .Florence. Venice deve!- .'.' Hell~ ... Uer.,inve.tisation. questions as the exact dating and oped a .. Mercanh1e' form.:. of .is limited by her DqIIeet extent of the ,RenaiSsance in capitalism, tend¢ . towards con·' ,.scholarship~\,._,j.n· favour 'of" 0:' discussion .of· lb.' servativiSm, and lacked . "c!ass- .. debate. between ,

.RenaissanCe: concept: of man •. a_ warfar .... Florence, on the "ther, ists. on the-, modes of prc>d.,ctii • . . concept .. she' .. adduces from . the. 'hand, developed . textile industries '\ ·.and·. their historical illlita!ltiati'OJ!I

literature:.and .philosophy of. the ·in a. capitalist manner,'· thus . The : genCral , tone or, time. The,·Renaissance ,for.ber.is ~generati~ ,indus~ .capital,' and _ sunimed.' 'up in ,the 'a period 'of ~,'uneven development,t:' producing ~e, J"U'St_ gepuine,: Pr.<>= ~ - profound remarks. broken. by conjunctions of inter- .Ielariat in European .. history -the . With ·the Renaiuance national .. lmpo~ce --, Luther's woollen. workers called the 'Ciompi proclamation,ihe defeat. of the _ who revolted in 1378 and held

·SpaliishArmada. While pursuing an .the city of Florence for.be weeks, orthOdox' MarxiSt. line on . the before being crushed;'The industrial ec:on;'mic progress' of the period expansion of·_F1orencc~w.as.halted . from . the Xillth' to the XVlth' by the .mortage of labQur, showing· centuri....h,,· aUowsgreater .flex- that there is no universal tendency ibility to enter her account. ex- for feudalism to develop into, p1aining why some feature. Of the capitalism. In Florence, on a.' Renaissan~e Un.particular the con~ cultural level,. painters ,were· more ceptualisation':of "'Creedom as a versatile,· many being also' im..,: universal categorY) appear detached portant architects, a factor de-from their social. and economic pendent on the e'conomic contexts in some countries,· .and, infrastructure oC the·city. assu!1le a· certaih .life of their HeUer is at her best in dis<:usling own. Despite the un,~en 'iI~velop-, the concept of man which emerged." ment .m ·the Reitaissance~, which in. Petrarch, ·.Campanella, Pico and ended in a proc ... of."refeudalisat.·"· ',"evcn:'in ~Shakespeare XiVliCrc 'She"

man u;,open ::::f~:~:1 of everYthing, and' .,-1nfinity"·· . ,rather than actual~ the impetuS for tIle man which· surfaced in Revolution and the declaral:ioi. the RightS 'of Man~