Eugene Kamenka (4 March 1928 – 19 January 1994) was an Australian political philosopher and

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

scholar.

Biography

Kamenka was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 1928 and migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with his parents in 1937. He was of Russian-Jewish origin. He was educated at the

Sydney Technical High School Sydney Technical High School is a state-financed Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary day school for Single-sex education, boys, located in Bexley, New South Wales, B ...

, and after interrupting his studies went to Jerusalem where he married his first wife Miriam Mizrachi. Later, he returned to

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

by her encouragement to complete his degree and begin work on his later published thesis "The Ethical Foundations of

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

" for the Australian national university, published 1962. Professor

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * John Anderson (jazz trumpeter) (1921–1974), American musician * Jon Anderson (John Roy Anderson, born 1944), lead singer of the British band Yes * John Anderson (producer) (1948–2024 ...

of Sydney University was a key influence in his early career. Kamenka lectured in philosophy at the

University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University. The university offers degree program ...

where he met his second wife,

Alice Tay Alice Erh-Soon Tay (1934–2004) was an Australian academic lawyer, an eminent jurisprudence and comparative law scholar. She was president of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission from 1998 to 2003. Early life and educ ...

and went on to lecture and research around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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, and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. He was a Professor and the Head of the History of Ideas Unit at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Australian National University, and lived in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Together with Tay, a professor of jurisprudence at Sydney University and scholar of comparative and Asian legal systems, he authored several works in philosophy of law and comparative law. He died in Canberra.

Works

*''The Ethical Foundations of Marxism'' (1962) *''Marxism and Ethics'' (1969) *''A World in Revolution?'' (1970) *''The Philosophy of

Ludwig Feuerbach Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (; ; 28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872) was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book '' The Essence of Christianity'', which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced ge ...

'' (1970) *''Nationalism: The Nature and Evolution of an Idea'' (1976) *''The Portable Karl Marx'' (1983) *''Bureaucracy'' (1989)

References

External links

*
The Ethical Foundations of Marxism
' by Eugene Kamenka (1962) *

' by Eugene Kamenka (1965) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamenka, Eugene 20th-century Australian philosophers Marxist theorists 1928 births 1994 deaths Australian people of Russian-Jewish descent University of Sydney alumni Australian National University alumni Academic staff of the Australian National University Academic staff of the National University of Singapore Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Australia Jewish socialists

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links