1. The Enlightenment was characterized by the emergence of philosophes who advocated for critical thinking and reasoning. Marx shared some common things and even was influenced by Enlightenment thinkers. Works of Rousseau, John Lock and Hegel were believed to be inspiration to Marx. In his book Das Kapital (Capital), Karl Marx adopted the idea of Jock Locke that human existence is directly related to requirement to fulfill basic needs( Hunt ,718). Marx believed the most important thing that distinguishes human beings from other creatures is that humans produce their means of subsistence. Despite the fact that Rousseau and Marx differed in the idea of Government and state, both attacked private property. According to Marx, it is the existence …show more content…
When a system is being changed from capitalism to communism, “dictatorship of the proletariat” is the intermediate system. For Marx and Engels, the Paris Commune that ruled France for two months form March 1871 to May 1871 was a model of dictatorship of the proletariat. Under liberal democracy, Marx argued, it is the only the capital class whose right is protected. Marx viewed the state as an institution established to protect the interest of the capitalist society. Marx and Engels believed it the proletariat’s seizing of power that would result abolishing of private property and insures the communal ownership of …show more content…
This theory views history of human beings as a succession of modes of production to meet human material needs. This mode of production determines the social relation that would exist among a society. According to the theory, when a change in mode of production takes place, there will be a conflict “between the forces of production and the social relations of production” ("Marx And Historical Materialism")
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The revolution will bring a classless society because of the elimination of bourgeois private property. The revolution will gradually change private property to social property through progressive taxation, abolition of rights of inheritance, and expansion of factories owned by the state. The two distinct classes the industrial revolution created will vanish if the cause for the creation of the classes, capital, is abolished.
16. Marx and Angels opposed the private ownership mode of production because it facilitates the exploitation of the working class by the capital class. This mode of production creates capital which grows as more people are employed for their labor. Capital gives owners of factories social power over the
The Revolution ultimately occurred because of a growing conflict between the old system ( feudalism ) where land ownership was the basis of privileged position within society. The old system was becoming obsolete because of increase in power of the bourgeoisie ( capitalism). Class Conflict is the engine that drove the French Revolution since the modern bourgeois society that has arose from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class competition The Revolution only established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production was monopolize no longer was sufficed for the growing demands of the new system. The manufacturing system took its place. Capitalism (where the wealth was in the possession of a few people who used their wealth to buy labor and create even more wealth for themselves), would become increasingly reliant on the workers. The significance of the Revolution according to Marx and Engels is in society, relations and forces get along, but when the forces (technology) improve, people try to exploit it, and the old modes of production become a hinderance. Tension builds over this, revolution occurs, break happens, and a new economy is
There are many different ways in which the Enlightenment affected the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution. One way was the by the idea of a Social Contract; an agreement by which human beings are said to have abandoned the "state of nature" in order to form the society in which they now live. HOBBES, LOCKE, and J.J. ROUSSEAU each developed differing versions of the social contract, but all agreed that certain freedoms had been surrendered for society's protection and that the government has definite responsibilities to its citizens. Locke believed that governments were formed to protect the natural rights of men, and that overthrowing a government that did not protect these rights was not only a right, but also an obligation. His thoughts influenced many revolutionary pamphlets and documents, including the Virginia Constitution of 1776, and the Declaration of Independence. The Bill of Rights was created as a listing of the rights granted to citizens, the Bill of Rights serves to protect the people from a too powerful government. These civil rights granted to U.S. Citizens are included in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, Locke’s ideas about checks and balances and the division of church and state were later embodied in the U.S. Constitution as well. The Constitution replaced a more weakly organized system of government as outlined under the Articles of Confederation.
This is because it allowed for the emergence of the powerful Bourgeoise, "In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.” As Marx explained , the Bourgeois exploited the Proletariats through the means of the long hours the laborers had to endure to receive very low wages, which maximized Bourgeois profits. Furthermore Marx claimed that "The conditions of Bourgeois society are too narrow to comprise the wealth created by them ...it has also called the into existence the men who are wield to those weapons -the modern workers.” The elites have created a very exclusive market, In order for the market to be placed effectively; the Bourgeoisie depended on the exploitation of others to remain wealthy. Marx perceived this tactic that allowed the bourgeoisie to overthrow their predecessors could be used against the bourgeoisie in the long term. Nevertheless, the way to abolish the Bourgeois was for the Proletariats to revolt against the factories in their areas and destroy the technology inside the factories, this allowed for the return of skilled
Karl Marx believed class was a matter of economics, that is, how the individual fits into the pattern of modern capitalist society. Marx argued that the whole of capitalist society was constructed in order to support this idea including the society’s infrastructure. Marx believed that social classes arise when a group gains control of the means of production. This group also has the power to maintain or increase its wealth by taking advantage of the surplus value of labor. Many people question why a worker would labor under such conditions. The reason is quite simple according to Marx. The reason is political and social representation. Members of this class elect representatives who pass laws that serve their interests. Landlords and factory owners were able to use their control of resources to exploit the unlanded laborers in the newly emerging factories.
The Communist Manifesto, written in 1848, provided the views of Karl Marx on humans and nature. For the time in which the document was written, the ideas of Marx were very radical to society. The ongoing struggle between the Proletarians( the working class) and the Bourgeois( the owners) prompted Marx to develop a solution to this social problem. His solution to this historical problem was to create a capitalist nation, which in the end would result in a Communist nation. He wanted to help the social status of the working class, because he felt that they were being taken advantage of by the owners. The document also discusses the role of humans and their interaction with nature.
Marx instruct power as a faculty and need as a desire. The faculty refer to the responsibility that one has a responsibility toward the society and desire refer to aim to be attain or something we don’t have but wish to have it. The capitalist version of marx s his theory of alienation. Marx devote 400 pages on theory of alienation. Marx materialist conception of human nature has been the main target of catholic criticism. According to marx the man possesses certain power and need for some he call it natural and other species. In marx conception of reality, power are related to their future forms as well as with other entities in the present. Marx talk about the natural man in which he compare the living of man, animal and other species and their functioning. For instance marx told that there are some animals who undergo into the earth and perform activities to stay alive. The desire to be alive. Marx indicate that man possesses some natural power that help him to realize his need and power. Need is what that actualize his ability and tendency to obtain. Marx talk about realization and manifestation. For example hunger, it is the need of a person and it help a person to realize his abilities and tendencies so that one can achieve hi desire. Marx talk about the senses of a person in the realization process of a man. Marx said human being as a limited being because of the restriction which surround him by his desires and activities. In marx concept of human nature, man manifest himself in two being one is by looking, smelling, sounding, feeling like a man. Secondly and most important marx manifest man into species through activity of kind, pace and quality that done by human being. In human species each individual have different need and power. Power is what that conceive one from the
Marx views history as being determined by economics, which for him is the source of class differences. History is describe in The Communist Manifesto as a series of conflicts between oppressing classes and oppressed classes. According to this view of history, massive changes occur in a society when new technological capabilities allow a portion of the oppressed class to destroy the power of the oppressing class. Marx briefly traces the development of this through different periods, mentioning some of the various oppressed and oppressing classes, but points out that in earlier societies there were many differentiations of social classes. Marx sees the modern age as being distinguished from earlier periods by the simplifications of the class conflict, splitting up society into two great hostile groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Marx’s perspective was not based on the conflict of ideas, but rather on the conflict of classes. This conflict is the results of a new mode of production. According to Marx, history would consist of epochs of modes of production. He states that these modes of production are: primitive communism, slave society, feudalism, capitalism, and then socialism and communism.
Political philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx dreamt up and developed unique theories of total revolution. Although similar in their intention to dissolve dividing institutions such as religion and class structure, as well as their shared reluctance to accept the rather less hopeful conclusions of government and man that had been drawn by their predecessors Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, the blueprints Rousseau and Marx had printed were cited to two very different sources. Rousseau approached the problem of oppression from a political standpoint, focusing on the flawed foundation of liberal individualism that has been continually adopted by democracies. Marx, on the other hand, took an unconventional route of concentrating on economics. By completely eliminating the economic class system, Marx believed there could be a society of which would transcend the realm of politics.
In Karl Marx, early work, The German Ideology, start to develop some of the basic concept to understand of his social theory. He talks about the understand of social relation of production by identifying the characteristic of social relations of production in capitalist society. Marx talk about certain stages that define social class conflict by changing the mean of production to creates different class that conflict with each other. For example, these struggles can be found in class clashes, social wars and revolutions which turn into a reformation of the social order. The way that revolution view fundamental between the mean or production and the relation of production. In his point of view the mean of production are labor such as technical, technological and economical. The relations of production could be property and the division of produce and profits within society.
The political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx examined the role that the state played and its relationship to its citizen’s participation and access to the political economy during different struggles and tumultuous times. Rousseau was a believer of the concept of social contract with limits established by the good will and community participation of citizens while government receives its powers given to it. Karl Marx believed that power was to be taken by the people through the elimination of the upper class bourgeois’ personal property and capital. While both philosophers created a different approach to establishing the governing principles of their beliefs they do share a similar concept of eliminating ownership of capital and distributions from the government. Studying the different approaches will let us show the similarities of principles that eliminate abuse of power and concentration of wealth by few, and allow access for all. To further evaluate these similarities, we must first understand the primary principles of each of the philosophers’ concepts.
Marx, in his theory of historical materialism, advocates that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces. His theory focuses on the class struggles and the human attempts to control and dominate the natural environment. Profits obtained by the capitalists are a result of the workers being exploited. This conflict will lead to a revolution in which the workers control the state. Thus, capitalism will be replaced by socialism. The result is freedom for all. In the Soviet Union, the lower class overthrew the ruling class and created a new mode of production. This new economic base then determined political, social and ideological changes in its society. The failure of the Soviet Union impacts the validity of Marxian historical materialism because it discredits materialistic
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.
In definition, private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is different from public property in which public property are assets owned by state or government compared to a private business or individual. Yet, in Marx’s opinion, “private property is thus the product, the result, the necessary consequence of alienated labor, of the external relation of the worker to nature and to himself. Private property thus results by analysis from the concept of alienated labor, of alienated man, of estranged labor, of estranged life, o...
As one of greatest figures in human history, Karl Marx introduced not only Communism but also historical materialism to us. According to historical materialism, the mode of production would determine and foster mankind’s ideas, values, and beliefs. Many opponents of Marx attacked his “impossible” Communism but neglected his contribution in defining the relationship among important production elements. This paper would explain the theme of historical materialism and probed the relationship between consciousness and mode of production. Then, this paper would analyze how division of labor affect mode of production and conclude that historical materialism was realistic and applicable.