Philosophy Talk: Marx's Ideological Critiques

Jaime Edwards will give a talk titled "Marx's Ideological Critiques," the first Philosophy talk of the 2024-25 academic year.

Abstract: Marx claims that most moral, religious, political, and economic thought is ideological. However, while this provocative idea is widely considered one of Marx’s most distinctive contributions, in his various remarks on ideological belief across his decades-long career, he never precisely specifies what he means by the concept, and he employs it in several different ways at different points in his work. Moreover, the concept has been extended by others working in the Marxist tradition beyond how Marx himself used it. Consequently, though the term itself has entered the common vernacular, commentators have remained divided on what Marx himself really intended by it. This talk will aim to trace out Marx’s various uses of the concept in more detail, identify what I take to be the essential characteristics of ideology across Marx’s different applications, distinguish his account from those of subsequent accounts of ideology with which it is often misleadingly equated, and note where contemporary theory lends support to Marx’s troubling account.

Jaime Edwards earned his PhD in philosophy at the University of Chicago.  He is currently a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School.  His research explores ideological belief—the complex ways in which our beliefs are shaped by social and political forces in a manner that reinforces existing power hierarchies that disadvantage the vast majority. Most recently, he has been exploring the limitations ideology places on our understanding of political community and obligations. 

Off campus, Edwards teaches essay writing in prisons and organizse citizenship classes for refugees preparing to take the US citizenship exam.