ABSTRACT
By all reports, the socialist legacy is ambiguous; in addition, the problem of knowledge is ubiquitous. The implausible task in one brief paper is to transcend ambiguity and dissolve ubiquity. Clearly, these remarks will fall far short of such a self-imposed task. About the most we can hope for in this brief excursion is to render an orderly account of the socialist tradition and its treatment of the problem of knowledge. For the most part, we shall concentrate on the major expression of that tradition — Marxism, and leave for others the task of sorting out arguments between the varieties and strands within socialism. Indeed, there is enough puzzlement to resolve even by confining our tasks in the aforementioned manner. For the main thesis which I shall put forth, and one for which there appears to be more than ample evidence, is that what is set forth by Marx in stages, is presented by latter day socialism as options; or at the least, different ways of viewing the relationship of socialism to the accumulation and uses of knowledge.
