The materiality of the ideal

Abstract

This essay situates and analyzes in the context of last century’s Soviet thought the philosophy of action of Evald Ilyenkov, who conceived of the individual as relating to reality through the lens of an ideal (social) dimension which is no less objective than reality. Cognitive and practical contact with reality is achieved through the unavoidable filter of the ideal, which in turn is the product of the social activity of men. In this perspective, the ideal is in the things themselves in so far as they are known, produced, and transformed in and by this activity. However, questioning the centrality that Marx attributes to the practical activity of men will turn out to an unavoidable endeavor.