Karl Marx lecture

The third lecture of this semester introduced Karl Marx; the philosopher most famous for his work on ‘The communist manifesto’ and for founding Marxism.

Born in 1818, Marx was born into a Jewish family, studying law, philosophy and then journalism; therefore he is extremely relevant to anyone studying this subject. He was interested in Hegel and his ideas and campaigned for revolution wherever he went, causing him to be pushed out of many different countries, eventually finding himself in London where he lived until his death in 1883.

Marx wrote the communist manifesto in 1848, and believed that everything could be explained by the market; this is similar to Adam Smith who also believed that everything was economically determined. However despite his interest and Hegel and his likeness to Smith, Marx was different from other philosophers as he felt that people needed to change the world through what they know instead of just trying to understand the world, ‘ The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it.’

Marx’s similarities to these philosophers however are that he adopted Hegelian philosophy and empiricism as well as revolutionary politics and used science is his method, believing that he was using the same method as Darwin; therefore he combined different parts of previous philosophy.

Hegel believed that we were all moving towards the dialectic; an eventual end where spirit will be absolute as we move through the dialectic towards the end, however Marx felt this was wrong and interpreted the dialectic differently; feeling that it was rooted into the real world in money. He believed that the dialectic was a dialogue between opposing parts the thesis- the point, antithesis- the opposing point and the conclusion which allowed a new point of view to be made consisting of part from the two points.

Marx was interested in the struggle between classes throughout history and feel that one day the proletariat can make changes as they have nothing to lose other than their children as this is their only possession, whereas other groups have much more to lose and will not risk it in revolution.

Capitalism, according to Marx, alienates men from themselves as values of things are more important and take priority over each other as everything is done for money. Marx feels that everyone has 3 selves in which needs are met. The natural self  for subsistence needs, the alienated self where natural needs are perverted and the fulfilled self which can only be met through communism. Therefore the industrial process of the industrial revolution does not meet the real needs of the person conducting the job and respect is lost in jobs with satisfaction as everything is done for money.

Revolution which Marx was campaigning for most in a communist society is characterised by equality and true justice and the evolution of a truly free individual according to Marx.

The thesis of communism is the Bourgeoisie, the antithesis is the proletariat and the synthesis is socialism. Marx believed that the proletariat would rise up and destroy the bourgeoisie creating temporary socialism; all that is produced will be shared, meaning the state will wither away. Capitalism however, according to Marx creates its own destruction completion increases prices meaning that no one will be able to afford products and a market crash will happen over and over again, eventually resulting in the end of capitalism meaning that communism will be the way forward.