72 SOCIAL SCIENTIST but does violence to the totality of the perspective within which not only Marx and Wittgenstcin, but indeed all philosophers, function. Permutation and combination of selectively presented formulations only duplicate obscurity on theoretical issues in the first place by an absence of adequate philosophical debate. The advance of social scientific research and of human society as a whole, has been made possible, as Marx's writings amply demonstrate, only by "the most radical rupture with traditional ideas" (Communist Manifesto). The revolutionising philosophical conception of the relation between thought and being, between philosophy and practice in the concrete world, is the central feature of Marx's analysis precisely because it is that 'central facet' which divides modern, dialectical materialism from all forms of idealism. Wittgenstein's demand that we give philosophy 'peace5 tracing all its fundamental divisions to 'linguistic confusions', is, despite his reluctance to name it, a 'philosophical' solution that leaves the world untouched, as it is, fully apparent. Even the most faithful 'descriptions' become suspect in such a context. In a celebrated statement Marx himself allows us to grasp the real difference between his philosophy and that tradition to which alone Wittgenstein can be said to belong: "Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.^ 1 Lefebvre, The Sociology of Marx, Penguin, 1972, p 30. 2 David Rubenstein, Marx and Wittgenstein: Social Praxis and Social Explanation, Routledge and Keg?n Paul, 1981, p 1. Subsequent references, with page numbers in brackets, are included in the text. 3 "I possess a body with which I am very intimately conjoined, yet because, on the one side, I have a clear and distinct idea of myself inasmuch as I am only a thinking and unextended thing, and as, on the other, I possess a distinct idea of a body inasmuch as it is only an extended and unthinking thing, it is certain that this I, is entirely and absolutely distinct from my body and can exist without it." (Sixth Meditation). The Philosophical Works of Descartes, 2 vols, trans by Haldane and Ross, Dover Publications, 1955, p 190. 4 K Marx, German Ideology, Moscow, 1964, p 13. 5 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (trans Anscombe), Basil Blackwell, 1953. Subsequent references appear in the text with the abbreviation PI followed by a number. This refers to Wittgenstein's method of numerically arranging his text. 6 Wittgenstein, Robert Fogelin, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976, pp 122-123. 7 ^ettel, Anscombe and von Wright (ed), Anscombe (trans), Basil Blackwell, 1967. Subsequent references appear in the text with the abbreviation Z preceding the appropriate numeral. 8 Marx, The Holy Family, Lawrence and Wishart, 1957, p 255. 9 Marx, Capital, Lawrence and Wishart, 1970, Vol 1, p 43. 10 Marx, The Holy Family, op cit, p 65. 11 Grundrisse, (ed and trans Mcllelan), Harper and Row, 1971, p 18. 12 "Wage Labour and Capital", in Marx and Engels, Selected Works, 1970, p 79. 13 Marx. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts 1844, p 72. 14 Ibid, p 103. 15 Ibid. 16 Marx, Capital, Lawrence and Wishart, 1966, Vol III, p 817. 17 Marx, Capital, Lawrence and Wishart, 1970, Vol II, p 176.