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BACKGROUND
Idealist
Materialist
Nominalist
Born: May 5th, 1818 in Trier, Prussia
in
Rhineland. First was called “Carl”.
Died on March 17th, 1883
Trier benefited from Progressive Philosophy of the Enlightenment such as the public work projects.
One of 9 children and only one to live until 40.
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BACKGROUND
Raised with mix of Judaism, Christianity, and
Secularism
Karl’s Parents: Rabbi
Mother: A Dutch Jew who, unlike her
husband, was only semi-literate. She claimed to suffer from "excessive mother love", devoting much time to her family, and insisting on cleanliness within her home.
Father: Lawyer, broke away from religious heritage by being the first to gain secular education.
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BACKGROUND
Father: Represented departure from Jewish teachings and took
the opportunities of trades and professions.
Jews were once
deprived.
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Intellectual influences
Enlightenment ideals of humans being able to
alter their environment to allow for fuller human capacity.
Ideals of Romanticism where Marx developed a concern for individuals and collective struggles.
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Intellectual influences
Kant’s philosophy that antagonism between men was
the ultimate driving force in history. Conflict is inevitable.
Hegelian
thought that objectivity is a product of the mind’s activity. Humans fall into “bondage” of the laws and events that we create. Marx developed ideas of reification through this concept.
GERMAN IDEALISM
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Intellectual influences
GERMAN IDEALISM
Hegel’s philosophy:
Dialectic – a way of
thinking that stresses the importance of processes, relations, dynamics,
conflicts, and contradictions.
Idealism – emphasizes the importance of the mind and mental products rather than the material world.
Marx used some of Hegel’s notions to construct ideas that society is a construct of human’s and can therefore be shaped and reshaped by humans.
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Intellectual influences
GERMAN IDEALISM
Young Hegelians
Gospels were works of imagination.
If
you rid the world of religious illusions, you remove
the misery from people’s minds.
Holistic approach where everything should be considered (totality) from beginning to end. One must start with the family unit when exploring society.
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Intellectual influences
LUDWIG FEUERBACH
Feuerbach helped Marx realize Hegel’s ideas
of subjective idealism was not as important as material
reality.
Feuerbach furthered Marx’s ideas on religion by stating that God is merely a human projection, and that humans place God above themselves. This acts as an alienation process for humans.
Human history is man made and therefore humans must realize happiness in this life.
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Intellectual influences
FRIEDRICH ENGELS
Engels helped Marx realize that the
proletariat would rise up in revolution to save itself.
Marx realized, through Engels, the concrete conditions and misery of the working class. This helped him realize all of history was a class struggle.
Every class struggle is a political struggle, therefore there is a connection of politics and the economy.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
Society is divided into two major
classes:
Proletariat – The working class (creators of the means
of production)
Bourgeoisie – The owners of capital.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
The process of change in
the real world of material, physical reality.
Marx wanted a
reconciliation of materialism and idealism by combining scientific aspects of materialism with the historical components of idealism.
Marx’s dialectical approach – mind and matter, spirit and nature, together constitute the unified structure of reality.
Freedom and slavery are both ideas and exist in the real world. However, religions are just opiates that hamper human condition useless.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
Man has a need for
material satisfaction.
Capitalism was necessary to advance human capital.
Human history
is that through which humans change themselves and change nature (where animals cannot).
Humans realize they can produce their own means of subsistence.
The production of material life is the cornerstone of history.
Once primary needs are met, humans seek secondary needs, and some reach secondary needs before others (division of labor)
Class distinction determined by possessions (land).
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
This is determined by one’s
relative position to the means of production and access
to scarce resources.
It is a common identification among members of a given class.
Once workers realized their common suffering, they would unite in revolution!
WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!
DYSLEXICS OF THE WORLD UNTIE!!!
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
4. Workers could only unite
once they ridded themselves of false consciousness.
- The inability
to see where one’s best interest lies.
- Religion was a main force behind this.
5. Classes are structures external to, and coercive of, people
6. Possession of property becomes the ultimate determination of class formation and the inevitable development of class struggle.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
GRUNDRISSE
A manuscript written by Marx not
published until 1941.
The ruling class must keep the workers
subjected to their authority, yet are dependent upon their labor for wealth.
Labor is reproduced through wages.
Alienation results when humans become dominated by the force of their own creation (money, religion, etc.).
It confronts humans as alien powers.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
ALIENATION
Four Types:
Workers are alienated from objects
they produce. They do not own what they produce.
Workers
are alienated from the process of production. They are not working for their own needs, but for the capitalist.
Workers are alienated from themselves. They are not allowed to realize their potential performing the same task over and over on a daily basis.
Workers are alienated from their fellow workers. They are either isolated or in direct competition with their companions.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
$
Money is the pimp for humanity’s
needs. It
becomes the object of
desire and alienates
humans
from their true essence.
Fetishism of Commodities – workers fail to realize that their labor is what gives commodities their value.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
IDEAS ON CAPITAL
Capital involves the social
relationship between buyers and sellers of labor power.
Workers
were exploited by a system they helped produce. Once they realized this, they could change the system.
The superstructure of society consists of the sum total of the relations of production (raw materials, labor, and technology) and those who control production (capitalists).
Private property is the private ownership of the means of production by the capitalists.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
COMMUNISM
In order for people to realize
their human potential, they must overthrow the validity of
private property.
The means of production should be shared equally through public ownership.
Under communism, people could realize their full potential.
Marx wanted all people to realize their full human potential and this could only occur once alienation, division of labor, private property, and other obstacles that blocked it were eliminated.
A worldwide revolution would occur in which the workers would overthrow the capitalists and create a classless society.
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CONCEPTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
COMMUNISM
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RELEVANCY
Poet, Philosopher, Sociologist, Economist, Historian, and a major
gain to Sociological Thought.
Expert with controversy and opposing interpretations.
A
Revolutionist t to overthrow
capitalism and fought for the rights of workers.
Contributed to the Liberation of the Modern Proletariat.
His Concept of Communism served as a guiding tool toward a perfect Society
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RELEVANCY
Marx wanted to REWRITE the rules to
society. He was a revolutionary.
Communist ideas were somewhat utopian.
Governments
can create laws to protect workers.
Marx never saw the development of the middle class and the power of labor unions.
Social justice programs have developed to help those in need.
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PHILOSOPHY
Marx has been called "the first great user
of Critical Method critical in social sciences."
He criticized speculative
philosophy, equating metaphysics with ideology.
By using the above approach, Marx attempted to separate key findings from ideological bias and it set him apart from many contemporary philosophers.
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PHILOSOPHY
Believes that humans are not trapped in
a predetermined state of being.
It is humans who made
history, therefore they can change it.
Viewed Capitalism as a step toward progressive society.
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PHILOSOPHY
Realism v. Idealism: Since society can decide
for itself, there are different interpretations
Realism v. Nominalism :
The Tangible world and capitalism.
-Ideas exist in tangible world.
-Connects abstract to real.
Idealist v. Materialist:
-Not about spirituality
- Human struggle and capital.
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OCCUPY!!!!
Americans frustrated with the disparity in wealth distribution
and income inequality in the United States took to
the streets to “take back Wall Street.”