Reification and idealistic reductionism in Western thought

A possible dialogue with Lukács and Ellacuría from decolonial thought

Abstract

In this article we propose, from the reading of some texts by Georg Lukács and the Spanish-Salvadoran theologian and philosopher Ignacio Ellacuría (1931–1989), the hypothesis that reification is a constitutive problem of Western thought. Ellacuría contributes the need for a historicized perspective of the concepts that conceal reality, as well as a profound reflection on the concrete political problems implied by the persistence of what he calls ‘idealistic reductionism’ in philosophy. This reflection is very well complemented by the Hungarian philosopher’s approach of the problem of reification in History and Class Consciousness. Both the idealist reductionism that Ellacuría denounces and reification have in common the substitution of reality by static, ahistorical concepts, which constitute an ideologized appearance that conceals the reality of exploitation in our countries. The dialogue between Lukács and Ellacuría would bring a new dimension to the analysis of the problem of the coloniality of knowledge from a Marxist perspective.