Draft of a book proposal TITLE: KARLMARX AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES

SYNOPSIS The objective: To write a book length report in English, on the theme: KARL MARX AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES. It will be based on printed and online German, Russian and English language primary and secondary source materials. This report will highlight the fact that Marxs practice in the realm of human knowledge provides a living, yet hitherto largely ignored critique of the dominant academic dogma which absolutises the relative mutual separation of various disciplines.

READERSHIP Target readers: everyone interested in Marx, human knowledge and human civilization. Main market: serious readers of the Anglophone societies of the world. Interest: this book will be of interest and, accessible to the truthseeking, non-specialist and specialist readers of the first half of this century. International sales potential exists: in about 125 countries of the world where people use English as their first or second language.

LEVEL of ability assumed: 12-14 years of school instruction or, better still, self-educated with that level of exposure in various disciplines. COURSE-USE POTENTIAL: This book may be used as a text or, as a reference in any course on Marx at any level, from the higher classes of schools to the post-doctoral level in the universities. Since this book will avoid dense academspeak as far as possible, it will have a very good course adoption potential in various disciplines at multiple levels.

EXISTING BOOK/PUBLICATION: To the best of my knowledge and belief there is no such book in the English language or, in any other language, available in the market as of today. There are five cognate publications four books (two in Russian and, two in German) and, a special issue of a German journal. These are: 1. Kedrov, Bonifati Mikhailovich i Aleksandr Pavlovich Ogurtsov 1978, Marksistskaya kontseptsiya istorii estestvoznaniya:XIX vek, Moskva:Nauka. This an attempt, in part, at reconstructing the evolution of the views of Marx, Engels, Schorlemmer, Dietzgen, Mehring, Liebknecht, Bebel, Kautsky, Labriola, Lafargue, DobrogeanuGherea, Plekhanov, Podolinsky, Blagoev and, Krzywicki on the natural sciences of their time. It will be used as a secondary source material for the proposed publication. There is no mention in this book of Marxs friend Roland Daniels work on physiological anthropology.

2.__1985, Marksistskaya kontseptsiya istorii estestvoznaniya: Pervaya chetvert XX veka, Moskva: Nauka. This is an attempted reconstruction of the views of Herzen, Pisarev, Mendeleev, Plekhanov, Akselrod-Ortodoks, Deborin, Liebknekht, Lenin, Lopatin, Gramsci, Shishkin, Stalin, Timiryazev and others on the natural and social sciences. 3. Daniels, Roland 1987 (written in 1850), Mikrokosmos: Entwurf einer physiologischen Anthropologie, Hrsg. Helmut Elsner, Frankfurt/M. usw. : Peter Lang. This text and, Daniels letters to Marx on it and on related subjects, will be used as secondary source materials. It is on record that Daniels had directly implored Marx (in his letter dated 24 April 1851) to take up the study of natural sciences and technology, in the interest of a projected encyclopaedia of the sciences. Marxs notes and excerpts on the natural sciences and mathematics largely belong to the period 18501883. 4. Griese, Anneliese und Hans Joerg Sandkueheler (Hrsg.) 1997, Karl MarxZwischen philosophie und Naturwissenschaften, Frankfurt/M. usw.: Peter Lang. It is addressed to the readers of the MARX-EngelsGesamtausgabe (MEGA). For a review of it see: MEGAStudien (Amsterdam) 1998/2, pp.10710.It too will be used as a secondary source material. This book is a report on Marxs relation with philosophy and the natural sciences. It conforms to the dominant academic dogma which one-sidedly absolutises the separation of the sciences from philosophy. I am proposing a rethink of the dominant image of Marx as a scholar of the humanities only and, a critique of the prevalent but untenable academic dogma that absolutises the relative separation of

various disciplines. So, this book and the proposed one will be related; we are proposing a sublation of this book. See: the ARGUMENT and, the OUTLINE below. 5. There exists a special issue of a German journal that I have not read but, do hope to read and use as secondary source material. It is: Beitraege zur Marx-Engels-Forschung, Neue Folge 2006: Marx und die Naturwissenschaften im 19. Jahrhundert. Inhaltsverzeichnis available at: <http://www.marxforschung.de/nf21/htm >.

The above description shows that there is no competition for the proposed book in English. Additionally, it is expected to have some serious readers among English language users of the Russian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and, Portuguese speaking/using societies of the world. COVERAGE AND ORGANISATION: This book will cover all the available relevant materials in German, Russian and English languages. To have an idea about its organisation see the OUTLINE provided below. The main ARGUMENT of the proposed book: 1. Human civilisations and their various components are products of cooperation and division of human labor. 2. The realm of human knowledge is no exception. 3. Yet there have been phases in the history of human civilizations, when the prevailing dominant dogmas sought to absolutize the relative separation of the various disciplines and ignore their mutual interpenetration. 4. The currently prevalent academic dogma too does the same.

5. Marx-reception during the 19th and 20th centuries remained a captive of this dominant dogma and, ignored/neglected about 50% of Marxs writings, notes and, excerpts related to his study of the natural sciences, technology and, mathematics. 6. The history of Marxs activities in the realm of human knowledge provides a living critique of this dominant dogma and, highlights the fact that the various branches of human knowledge are both relatively autonomous and mutually interdependent. In the realm of human knowledge Marx continued the encyclopaedic programmes of Aristotle, Al-Biruni and Leibniz, among others. BACKGROUND: this book is emerging from about 45 years of exposure to the writings of Karl Marx and to related partocratic and academic literature in Bengali, Hindi, English (since1964), Russian [+ the code switch notes and excerpts of polyglot Marx] (since1982) and, German (since1995). FEATURES: The most important aspect of this proposal: perhaps it is going to be the first such book in English. With periodic revision and updating it may serve as an useful introduction to the theme, for the interested Anglophone students up to 2030, whenwith the expected completion of the projected publication of the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe grounds will be created for writing a new and better book on the same theme.

OUTLINE

WORKING TITLE Karl Marx and the Natural Sciences An introduction to a living critique of a dominant dogma

A PROVISIONAL LIST OF Contents 1. Preface 2. Scope and Limitations of the proposed volume 3. The journey of Marxs image as a revolutionary scholar and thinker up to the first decade of the 21st century 4. An overview of Marxs Study of the natural sciences A DESCRIPTION OF MARXS NATURAL SCIENCE RELATED NOTES AND EXCERPTS 5. Physics 6. Chemistry 7. Physiology 8. Geology

9. On the relation of Marxs study of the natural sciences with his study of some other disciplines 10. Conclusion 11. Appendices: images of some pages of Marxs natural Science related notes and excerpts 12. Name Index 13. Index of Literature used by Marx 14. Index of Literature used in the present volume 15. Subject Index

PARAGRAPH LENGTH CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS 1. Preface A single spark can start a prairie fire. This is an old Chinese saying, quoted by Mao Zedong in a circular letter dated 5 January 1930. In the subsequent years it became very well known in the rest of the world. There exist similar sayings in some other languages too. Borrowing three words from this saying, one may say that the idea that a book may be written on the theme Karl Marx and the Natural Sciences came to me like a spark, in a mail from a book editor located in Europe, on 8 November 2010.This idea ignited the flames of my imagination. If written and published, this book has the potential of becoming a component of a possible prairie fire, which posterity may call: a turnaround in Anglophone Marx studies of the 21st century. Perhaps we are approaching a new dawn of

investigations on and around Marx, wherein, among other things, the scandalous neglect of Marxs natural science studies will be brought to an end.

2. Scope and limitations of the proposed volume In this chapter I propose to introduce the main ARGUMENT indicated above. This book will use the available published primary and secondary materials. Most of these materials are in German and Russian. There are only a few papers, notices and book reviews in English. Internet searches show that most of the English language materials on the theme came from the author of this proposal. That is why there is reason to believe that there is a lot of scope for this book in the world of aglophone Marx studies. Its limitations stem from the fact that it will not be based on the required study of primary sources/archival materials available only in Europe. These archives are located in three cities: Amsterdam, Berlin and Moscow. The author of this draft bookproposal does not have the fund required for staying and working in these cities, inspecting the necessary documents and, getting the necessary typescripts prepared.

3. The journey of Marxs image as a revolutionary scholar and thinker up to the first decade of the 21st century

Karl Marx (1818-1883) studied: elementary natural sciences as a student of the Trier Gymnasium (1830-1835); a part of the history of ancient Greek atomic thought for his doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Jena (1841); and, he independently studied Geology, Mineralogy, Agricultural Chemistry, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Botany, Zoology , Climatology, Physiology and, History of Technology (1850-1883) in the interest of his investigations on the political economy of capitalism, and at times, also in the interest of seeking answers for his own questions about the inner structure and dynamics of these disciplines. These are facts, corroborated by the numerous notes-and-excerpts-full notebooks he left behind. Yet, the so far dominant image of Marx associates him only with the humanities and the social sciences. This is a very big and extremely under reported SCANDAL of the intellectual history of modern socialism. This in its turn is a part of an even larger academic scandal: that of absolutisation of the relative separation of the different branches of human knowledge. Be it noted that this has happened despite the fact that at least five or six of Marxs close associates and, at least ten prominent persons from among the next generation of his followers, took varying degrees of active interest in the natural sciences and technologies. In this chapter I propose to trace the historical journey of this dominant image of Marx and, its consequences for socialist theory and practice on a world scale.

4. An overview of Marxs study of the natural sciences In this chapter I propose to revise and update a part of:

Baksi, Pradip 1996, Karl Marxs Study of Science and Technology, Nature, Society, and Thought (NST), Vol.9, No.3, pp.26196.

A DESCRIPTION OF MARXS NATURAL SCIENCE RELATED NOTES AND EXCERPTS 5. Physics The sources for this chapter: the materials on ancient Greek atomism in Marxs doctoral dissertation and, in his related notes; a part of MEGA IV/31[see: a review of it in the NST, 2001, Vol.14, No. 4, pp. 37790]; some entries in MEGA IV/32 [see: a short note on it in the NST, 2002, Vol.15, No.1, pp. 105 09]; the related correspondence; and, various secondary materials. Some of Marxs notes and excerpts on physics are slated to be published in MEGA IV/10, 18 and 22. 6. Chemistry The sources for this chapter: Marxs extensive notes and excerpts on inorganic and organic chemistry published in MEGA IV/31; and the related correspondence. See: my review of MEGA IV/31, indicated above. 7. Physiology The sources for this chapter: published secondary materials [like Daniels 1987, indicated above] and, related correspondence. Marxs notes and excerpts on physiology are slated to be published in MEGA IV/18 and, 23. These notes and excerpts also reflect his study of Climatology, Botany and Zoology. 8. Geology

The sources of this chapter: MEGA IV/6, 8, 9 and 26; published secondary materials and, correspondence. Some of Marxs Geology notes and excerpts are slated to be published in MEGA IV/17, 18, 22, 27 and, 28. These notes and excerpts additionally reflect his study of Mineralogy, Agricultural Chemistry, History and, Philosophy of Sciences. 9. On the relation of Marxs study of the natural sciences with his study of some other disciplines In this chapter we propose to revisit the main argument posed in chapter 2, in the light of the data adduced above.

10. Conclusion In this chapter we propose to indicate the task ahead, the emerging research questions and, some possible strategies for tackling them.

LENGTH: estimated word count: in the neighbourhood of 180 000 words, a few thousand words more or a few thousand words less. Illustrations: at most 20, subject to availability of the images and permission to publish the same from the IISG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

AUTHOR Pradip Baksi, translator and editor of Bengali and English editions of: Marx, Karl 1994, Mathematical Manuscripts (Kolkata: Viswakos).

Address: Flat No.4, First Floor, 244 Dum Dum Park, Kolkata 700 055, West Bengal, India. Nationality: Bengali; Citizenship: Indian. Contact: Telephone +91 033 6536 5807 Email: pradipbaksi@gmail.com

SCHEDULE I would like to have the materials that I wish to read but have not yet obtained. I shall be able to supply the final manuscripts in about 400-500 days from the date of agreement indicating that this book may be written.

If anyone, in any part of the world, wishes to write and/or publish this book, or a cognate book, in any language of the

world then I pledge to help that person in all necessary and possible ways. Pradip Baksi Kolkata 11February 2012