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Political philosophy of Karl Marx
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Recommended: Political philosophy of Karl Marx
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was the most influential revolutionary socialist thinker of the 19th century. Marx’s key interests were in establishing a revolutionary party for the working classes and analysing capitalist society in order to find its strengths and weaknesses and so plan its demise. With his friend and colleague, Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), he created “The Communist Manifesto” in which they described the communist society which would be created as a result of the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalists by the working classes. This essay will discuss the view held by Marx and Engels with regard to religion and consider this perspective in its relevance to contemporary society. Although, in Marx and Engels’ opinion, religion is “the opium of the people” (Marx and Engels 1955:41-2), by this they did not only suggest that religion was an invention of the ruling classes to keep the working classes contented, they also considered the deeper implications of religion and that is the theme of this essay. Marx and Engels were in agreement with Feuerbach’s critique of Hegel and his belief that inversion and alienation were key concepts in the examination of religion and its power and said “to abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people is to demand their real happiness” (Marx, 1844). Marx disagreed with Hegel’s vague, conceptual world and the power which he saw as responsible for world developments. Marx instead believed that people created and recreated social worlds and as such were responsible for their creations. Inversion saw creative and independent humans becoming dependent on an imaginary God. People viewed God as responsible for their hardships, refusing to acknowledge that as God was a synthetic entity, m... ... middle of paper ... ...48/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm [Accessed 11 November 2011]. Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1845. The German Ideology . [online]. Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a2 [Accessed 11 November 2011]. Marx, K. Capital Volume One. 1867. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/mar x/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm [Accessed 10 November 2011]. Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1848. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm [Accessed 9 November 2011]. German Ideology. 1845. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a2 [Accessed 10 November 2011]. Marx, K. 1867.Capital Volume One.[online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm [Accessed 11 November 2011].
First, I want to identify who Marx and Nietzsche are and their critiques on religion. Karl
The fear of early twentieth century dystopian writers is the fear that people in general had in this era; what is the impact of communism or what the future of religion with evolution and Darwinism would be. The may concern was that if religion was obsolete, what would replace it as the moral compass of the people. One of the most important individuals of the early twentieth century Karl Marx had his own philosophy for a replacement. The role of religion in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is stated as,” But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis…’" (Marx 19) That new bases he mentioned in the quote is the state, the new morale code that society must follow.
According to Marx, religion comes from the imagination of the mind, “Man makes religion.” (H/R,p.11) Marx believes in Atheism and that religion is simply justification to our actions and behaviors as “followers.”
Temkin, G. (1998). Karl Marx and the economics of communism: Anniversary recollections. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 31(4), 303–328. doi:10.1016/S0967-067X(98)00014-2
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.
Kreis, Steven. “The History Guide: Lectures on modern European Intellectual History”. http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html October 18, 2013
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader . 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Bender, Frederic L. Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ed. 1988.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
The writings of Karl Marx spell out the philosophic foundations of his radicalism. Marx’s philosophy is complicated and detailed. However, the central theme to Marx’s theories was his view that economic forces were increasingly oppressing human beings and his belief that political action and change were necessary. Marx’s thinking is a reaction to the industrial society of the mid ninete...
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. 1st Signic Classic print. ed. New York, NY: Signic Classic, 1998.
Karl Marx, in the Capital, developed his critique of capitalism by analyzing its characteristics and its development throughout history. The critique contains Marx’s most developed economic analysis and philosophical insight. Although it was written in 1850s, its values still serve an important purpose in the globalized world and maintains extremely relevant in the twenty-first century.
Marx saw religion as an evil that existed in society and that it brought down all the people that believed in that religion. Marx said that, ?It [religion] is the opium of the people,?[1] and in saying this, Marx meant that religion was contagious on society. Once the society had a taste for the religion, they became totally engulfed it in, and then they do not want to get out of that way of live because they see it as a good way to live. Then even if people wanted to get out of the religion it was hard to get out because the whole society had already been infected by the ?opium.?
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.