Following Marx: Method, Critique and Crisis

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> Following Marx: Method, Critique and Crisis

Following Marx: Method, Critique and Crisis

Michael A. Lebowitz

Books

Available
Publication year: 2009


Series:	Historical Materialism Book Series, 20
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 14942 7
ISBN-10:	90 04 14942 2

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xvi, 365 pp.

List price:	€ 85.00 / US$ 136.00

Table of contents

Introduction: To Follow Marx

Part I: Critiques of Political Economy

1. The Fallacy of Everyday Notions
2. Another Crisis of Economic Theory: the Neo-Ricardian Critique
3. The Neo-Ricardian Reduction
4. Is ‘Analytical Marxism’ Marxism?
Appendix: Roemer’s Self-criticism

Part II: The Logic of Capital

5. Following Hegel: the Science of Marx
6. Explorations in the Logic of Capital

Part III: Essays in the Theory of Crisis

7. Marx’s Falling Rate of Profit: A Dialectical View
8. The General and the Specific in Marx’s Theory of Crisis
9. Paul M. Sweezy.
Appendix: Learning from Paul Sweezy

Part IV: Essence and Appearance

10. Marx’s Methodological Project
11. What is Competition?
12. Too Many Blindspots About the Media
13. The Theoretical Status of Monopoly Capital
14. Analytical Marxism and the Marxian Theory of Crisis
15. In Brenner, Everything is Reversed

Part V: Considering the Other Side of Capital

16. The Silences of Capital
17. Beyond the Capital of Uno-ism
18. Situating the Capitalist State
19. The Politics of Assumption, the Assumption of Politics

Bibliography

Index

Readership

A reader interested in Marx and (as he hoped) 'willing to learn something new'--- thus, presumably one who will be found in universities, public libraries and the usual habitats of Marxists.

About the author(s)

Michael A. Lebowitz is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University. His book, Beyond 'Capital': Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) was awarded the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2004. His Build it Now: Socialism for the Twenty-first Century (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2006) has been republished in several other languages.

What does it mean to follow Marx? In this examination of Marx’s methodology combined with specific applications on topics in political economy such as neo-Ricardian theory, analytical Marxism, the falling rate of profit, crisis theory, monopoly capital, Paul Sweezy, advertising and the capitalist state, this volume argues that the failure to understand (or explicit rejection of) Marx’s method has led astray many who consider themselves Marxists. By focusing particularly upon the concept of a totality and the necessary form of appearance of capital as many capitals in competition, Following Marx both demonstrates why Marx insisted that ‘in competition everything is reversed’ and provides a guide for following Marx.

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