Episode 118: The Ethics of Interpretation, or “What Suresh Naidu & Jacobin Really Meant”

Gabriel and Andrew respond in detail to Columbia University professor Suresh Naidu’s piece in Jacobin, “What Marx Really Meant.” They begin by discussing norms of interpretation (of texts and of history), with emphasis on why principled interpretation is ethically important and why Whiggish distortion of history is unethical. They also call out Brill, a major academic publisher, for falsely insinuating that there’s no such thing as misinterpretation. Turning to Naidu’s piece, the co-hosts show that he was not telling the truth when he claimed not to be concerned with “what Marx really meant,” and they defend the importance of getting the meaning of texts right against Naidu’s vitriolic attack. (During the conversation, the co-hosts refer to a 2014 paper by Andrew on Whig history and, on Brill’s publication of unreliable content, to Ep. 85 and Ep. 89 of Radio Free Humanity.)

Plus current-events segment, “People of New York 34, Trump 0,” on the historic felony conviction of Donald J. Trump.

SUMMER 2024 SCHEDULE: We intend to release new eps once a month, on the first Friday of the month. The next episode, Ep. 119, is slated for release on July 5. The regular schedule will resume with Ep. 121, slated for release on Sept. 6.

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective.
It is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks.
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