A requested copy of Karl Marx's Capital, received as a Christmas present in 1915, initiated Alfred Sohn-Rethel’s lifelong study of Marxist political economy. Born in 1899 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, he became a philosopher and economist who sought to bridge the gap between abstract thought and the physical realities of labor through his concept of real abstraction.
Early Intellectual Development
Raised by his uncle, the steel industrialist Ernst Poensgen, Sohn-Rethel moved away from his family's artistic background. He attended Heidelberg University in 1917, where he engaged in anti-war protests. During the 1920s, he developed ties with notable thinkers including Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and Siegfried Kracauer. Although his interests aligned with the Frankfurt School, he never established a formal working relationship with them. In 1928, he completed his doctorate under Austrian economist Emil Lederer, using his thesis to challenge marginal utility theory.
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From 1931 to 1936, Sohn-Rethel worked for the Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftstag, a lobbying organization representing major export industries. This position allowed him to analyze power dynamics within the German industrial sector closely. Following his classification as mixed-race under the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, he fled to Switzerland in 1936. After an unsuccessful attempt to secure a position at the Institute for Social Research in New York, he relocated to England. While in Oxford, he collaborated with numismatist George Derwent Thomson on research regarding the origins of abstract thought and provided economic intelligence to circles aligned with Winston Churchill.
Philosophy and Later Career
Sohn-Rethel’s primary academic contribution is the critique of Kantian epistemology. He argued that abstract conceptual thought finds its basis in the physical act of commodity exchange, which he termed 'real abstraction.' Following the Second World War, he worked as a French teacher for several years. His theoretical career saw a resurgence during the 1968 student movement, eventually leading to the publication of Intellectual and Manual Labour: A Critique of Epistemology in 1970. In 1978, he accepted a professorship for social philosophy at the University of Bremen, where he continued to work until his death in 1990.
Fast facts
- Born: 1899, Neuilly-sur-Seine
- Died: 1990, Bremen
- Citizenship: United Kingdom; Germany
- Key Publication: Intellectual and Manual Labour: A Critique of Epistemology
- Academic post: University of Bremen
- Award: Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Questions readers ask
What is the concept of real abstraction?
It refers to the idea that abstract thinking, such as the categories used by Kant, originates in the structural requirements of commodity exchange rather than purely in the human mind.
How did he contribute to the study of fascism?
He analyzed the internal conflicts among German industrialists, specifically noting how the alignment between big industry and agrarian interests in 1932 facilitated the rise of the Nazi dictatorship.
Achievements
- Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Held posts at University of Bremen
