Romanticism And Humanism

Thought, while never homogenous, has nevertheless constantly evolved. Philosophy, from Socrates and onward, has developed and built upon itself, and grow outward into more and more varied schools of thought. These schools have and continue to divide, change, and transform into new ideas, some of which have come to describe entire periods of human history and dominate the philosophical and popular culture of those times. Romanticism came about as a reaction to the Enlightenment, which itself was a reaction the ideas before it (though no borders are clearly defined between any movements). Modern philosophy, containing the likes of rationalists, empiricists, existentialists, and more, was of course inherently built upon the ideas and history of

In fact, an older Marx was a fierce critic of humanism and the idea of human rights, something he felt was itself a creation of the capitalist system. The concept of human rights was itself born out of a need to protect the idea of personhood from the assaults of the capitalist system, which demanded that individuals be in conflict and in pursuit of profit. The idea that people possess rights that must be protected by an outside force is a product of that outside force’s oppression, as he explains in On the Jewish

Whereas “unlimited freedom of the press” is guaranteed as a consequence of the right of man to individual liberty, freedom of the press is totally destroyed, because “freedom of the press should not be permitted when it endangers public liberty.” That is to say, therefore: The right of man to liberty ceases to be a right as soon as it comes into conflict with political life, whereas in theory political life is only the guarantee of human rights, the rights of the individual, and therefore must be abandoned as soon as it comes into contradiction with its aim, with these rights of man.” (Marx & Lederer, 1958)

And on those fighting for political freedom, Marx says:

“…the relationship is turned upside-down in the minds of the political emancipators and the aim appears as the means, while the means appears as the aim.” (Marx & Lederer, 1958)

That is, their goals should not be to preserve or receive rights within their society, but to change the politics of their society so that they do not need protection from it. Political rights are a means through which communism (or freedom if you prefer) can be achieved, not an end. If you need your rights protected, then society has not evolved to the point where it is truly safe, just as Marx’s thought had not evolved to the point where he saw rights as imposing rather than protecting.