Marx, a German philosopher, born in 1818 is probably one of the most interesting philosophers I have discovered so far. Born from Jewish parents he was converted to Lutherism, but is said to have later become an atheist. Marx studied law, philosophy and then aspects involved with the revolution which is where he came to meet Fredrich Engles in Paris during the year of 1844. Marx rapidly changed his ambition to become a journalist and editor for radical newspapers in Europe during the communist manifesto in 1848. He fled to London where he lived until his death in 1883.
Marx believed that you could explain everything about a society by analysing the way economic forces shape social, religious, legal and political processes. He believed that the Aristotelian man is that of the rational animal, for Plato the political animal, for Kant the moral animal, for Hegel the historic animal but for Marx he concluded that man is the productive animal.
Mankind creates the environment it inhabits; "not a figure of the landscape but the shaper of the landscape" posing the question of how and why man came to dominate the world? Simply answered with the proof that man has the ability to make tools and co-operate.
Marx achieved a fusion of;
1. Hegelian philosophy (especially that of history and dialectics)
2. Empiricism (economical influences of Smith)
3. French revolution politics (particularly looking at socialist politics)
His method was scientific, using the same methods as Darwin he carried out research that looked at every aspect of society in order to understand it. He worked for years in the Reading Room of the British Museum - painstakingly working his way through vast amounts of material such as; census (1801), tax records and commodity prices of the growing empire.
Marx attacked Hegel's concepts of dialectic idealism and mysticism having no time for Hegel's theory of Geist battling between good and evil. The real dialectic was rooted in the real world, in real money which was shown through class and status struggles throughout society.
Marx sought the explanation of the historical process between man and the material conditions of his existence which became known as " dialectic materialism". Marx saw the class struggle through history recognising common scenes of master and slave, lord and serf and bourgeoisie and proletariat. He could see that the less working class, the proletariats had nothing to lose and everything to gain, they had "nothing to lose except their chains"
Marx believed they had a world to win.
Alienation
Marx believed that capitalism alienated men from themselves and from each other. People began to value things over each other which encouraged avarice, competition and inequality - the cash nexus became the criteria of all value.
Work is the loss of the self - it belongs to another. It does not develop the body or mind.
We are alienated from our need for satisfying work whilst also being alienated from our higher specific needs which are yet to be fully known or realised. "I am not myself at work".
We are simply estranged.
Communism - Hegels ideology;
The thesis - The Bourgeoisie (free market capitalism, liberal state, individual rights)
Anti-thesis - The Proletariat
Synthesis - Socialism
"Capitalism produces all things in profusion but most of all it produces its own grave diggers"
It seeds its own destruction.
Factory Production - Proletarian masses against The Bourgeoisie. Goods are sold on the market leading to intense competition. The Bourgeoisie will inevitably seek a competitive edge by exploiting their workers who cannot afford the products of their labour. This led to unemployment and resulted in a market crash.
Capitalism will try to survive by investing in better technology as well as exporting products whilst using the State's surplus on state expenditure such as education and the military.
Marx believed this all to be temporary, as a historical determinist he believed that the fall of capitalism was inevitable as well as the rise of the Proletariat.
The Proletariat would rise up and dispose of the Bourgeoisie. This would result in socialism. Workers would seize the means of production and produce goods to meet the needs of society rather than the market and distribute the wealth equally through the state. People would work together for the common good and the state would whither away.
Marx denied that communism was Utopian saying he had worked it out scientifically. He believed communism to be a garden of Eden, similar to that described by John Lennon in his song "imagine".
There is no difference between mental and physical labour. A person could be a fisherman in the morning, a factory worker in the afternoon and a musician or philosopher in the evening. They would all have an equal worth. A communist society is characterised by equality and true justice alongside the evolution of a truly free individual.
"From each - according to their abilities. To each - according to their needs"
Context of Marx's work - Revolutions 1848; The Spring of Nations
Europe started to see wide explosions of revolutions ranging from France to Italy, Austria and Germany. All of these were key countries. However most of these were put down where as the British empire continued to grow quickly.
It was the flowering of the intellectual life between the periods of 1848 and 1933 in Germany. Philosophers such as Freud, Marx, Weber, Einstein, Schubert and Strauss plus many more were all a part of this. It was "The German Century".
The failure of the revolution had profound effects. Germany failed to make the political advances that had been achieved via the revolutions in England, Holland, France and America.
The Aristocracy remained in control of the power. The middle class, excluded from political power turned back to education and culture.
Freedom began to be viewed as within the individual rather than in a society.
Alienation
Marx believed that capitalism alienated men from themselves and from each other. People began to value things over each other which encouraged avarice, competition and inequality - the cash nexus became the criteria of all value.
Work is the loss of the self - it belongs to another. It does not develop the body or mind.
We are alienated from our need for satisfying work whilst also being alienated from our higher specific needs which are yet to be fully known or realised. "I am not myself at work".
We are simply estranged.
Communism - Hegels ideology;
The thesis - The Bourgeoisie (free market capitalism, liberal state, individual rights)
Anti-thesis - The Proletariat
Synthesis - Socialism
"Capitalism produces all things in profusion but most of all it produces its own grave diggers"
It seeds its own destruction.
Factory Production - Proletarian masses against The Bourgeoisie. Goods are sold on the market leading to intense competition. The Bourgeoisie will inevitably seek a competitive edge by exploiting their workers who cannot afford the products of their labour. This led to unemployment and resulted in a market crash.
Capitalism will try to survive by investing in better technology as well as exporting products whilst using the State's surplus on state expenditure such as education and the military.
Marx believed this all to be temporary, as a historical determinist he believed that the fall of capitalism was inevitable as well as the rise of the Proletariat.
The Proletariat would rise up and dispose of the Bourgeoisie. This would result in socialism. Workers would seize the means of production and produce goods to meet the needs of society rather than the market and distribute the wealth equally through the state. People would work together for the common good and the state would whither away.
Marx denied that communism was Utopian saying he had worked it out scientifically. He believed communism to be a garden of Eden, similar to that described by John Lennon in his song "imagine".
There is no difference between mental and physical labour. A person could be a fisherman in the morning, a factory worker in the afternoon and a musician or philosopher in the evening. They would all have an equal worth. A communist society is characterised by equality and true justice alongside the evolution of a truly free individual.
"From each - according to their abilities. To each - according to their needs"
Context of Marx's work - Revolutions 1848; The Spring of Nations
Europe started to see wide explosions of revolutions ranging from France to Italy, Austria and Germany. All of these were key countries. However most of these were put down where as the British empire continued to grow quickly.
It was the flowering of the intellectual life between the periods of 1848 and 1933 in Germany. Philosophers such as Freud, Marx, Weber, Einstein, Schubert and Strauss plus many more were all a part of this. It was "The German Century".
The failure of the revolution had profound effects. Germany failed to make the political advances that had been achieved via the revolutions in England, Holland, France and America.
The Aristocracy remained in control of the power. The middle class, excluded from political power turned back to education and culture.
Freedom began to be viewed as within the individual rather than in a society.
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