Books by Richard Schmitt

Towards a New Socialism
"I know of now other work remotely comparable to this anthology. This collection should make a major contribution to public debates regarding the feasibility and desirability of a more democratic alternative to global capitalism. The comprehensiveness of the issues considered sets it apart . . .Without question this is the single best collection of writings by contemporary US socialist philosophers available." Tony Smith, Iowa State University

Alienation and Freedom
The word "alienation" has many meanings, referring sometimes to no more than two persons being friends no longer but "estranged" from one another, while at other times, it refers to profound dislocations in a person's life. The alienated have no clear sense of who they are, or what is the value of their life.

This book addresses this deep alienation--the inability to make some sense of one's life, to tell a coherent story about the many unexpected encounters, upsets, disasters, and blessings that befall one in a lifetime. These difficulties in making one's life-story meaningful are intimately connected with our intensely commercial society that renders us aimless and bewildered. It saps ours self-confident pursuit of clear goals and support for free and democratic institutions. That, in turn, makes it difficult for us to be truly free citizens who participate actively and seriously in the political life of our nation.


"ALIENATION AND FREEDOM is that rare book which combines accessibility with precision, originality with intellectual tradition, and hard-nosed political sophistication with wisdom."
Roger Gottlieb, author of JOINING HANDS

Introduction to Marx and Engels: A Critical Reconstruction
Marx and Engels are still the most profound critics of the sort of society in which we live. Their doctrine must be collected from their different writings where they are interspersed with lengthy and, today, tedious polemic. The messianic sweep of Marx's theory of human history shows him with one foot in the past where philosophical speculation dominated thinking about society. But Marx was also one of the founders of the systematic study of human history. His efforts toward an empirically defensible theory of modern, capitalist society, are separated out in this book from the older, speculative and often wishful conceptions of how to build a society more just and more humane than ours.

Praise for the First Edition:

"An excellent introductory text that will also be of interest to specialists in the field. Schmitt's work lies within the tradition of Western humanistic Marxism and against various scientistic readings of Marxism; he provides the clearer statement of this... tradition available." CHOICE

"An informed, intelligent and wide-ranging presentation. . ." Allen Wood, Cornell University

Beyond Separateness: The Social Nature of Human Beings --Their Autonomy, Knowledge and Power.

People are separate from one another to the extent that their actions, beliefs, projects are exclusively their own. As embodied beings, we are separate from each other--your bodily sensations and feelings are yours alone. But is the same true of actions, beliefs, projects? Beyond Separateness discusses that question in detail and concludes that actions, beliefs, projects can be shared so that they are not exclusively owned by any particular person.

Many mainstream philosophers believe that human beings are separate from one another as a matter of logic or of natural fact. It turns out, however, that whether one is separate or in-relation is a matter of choice and that, moreover, many people who claim to be separate, to be living according to a life plan all their own, are actually in hidden ways dependent on others and thus in-relation. Usually that means that they require a good deal of attending from others while they retain for themselves the freedom to act separately and independently when that seems more convenient.

Feminist theory, on the other hand, has pointed out that people who openly chose to be in-relation are attentive to each other, that they have many joint projects that belong as much to them as to their partners. They choose to make these projects joint projects so that everyone's contribution is important and valued.

Much epistemology assumes human separateness without question or argument. Once we recognize that separateness is chosen and is an inferior choice to being in- relation, the concept of knowledge requires reexamination. So do the ideas of love and friendship, and of power. The later chapters of Beyond Separateness sketch approaches to knowing, loving and power from the perspective of feminist theory.



"Quite wonderful. Especially remarkable is how Schmitt is able to place a theory of subjectivity within the broad context of political economy. . .Should be read by anyone who is thinking today about conceptions of the self . . ."

Linda MartÍn Alcoff,Syracuse University

"This is a fine, subtle book. Richard Schmitt draws out some disturbing real-life implications of the autonomous individualism that permeates Western industrial societies, to offer in its stead an ontology of being-in-relation whose social - political - personal effects could be profoundly restorative. Schmitt's authorial voice engages his readers directly, creating just those `connections and currents between persons' that his text advocates and illustrates."

Lorraine Code, York University