On Kosík's Criticism of Pseudosubject

Based on the Interpretation of The Crisis of Modernity: Essays and Observations from the 1968 Era

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the criticism that Czech Marxist philosopher Karel Kosík contributed to pseudosubject in his important work entitled The Crisis of Modernity. Pseudosubject in Kosík’s terminology, refers to the mystified pseudosubject hidden behind the two systems of free competition and bureaucratic rule. This pseudosubject not only governs the two systems but also develops into a kind of limitless subjectivism. The pseudosubject based on the principles of manipulability and calculability reduces man to pure tools for the operation of the system. Kosík holds that humanistic socialism can make people a real subject because it is the establishment of a revolutionary alliance of workers and intellectuals in practice and theoretically destroy the mystique and derivation of pseudosubjects in light of dialectics of concrete.