karl marx and his political philosophy

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HE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF KARL MARX

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Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

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Page 1: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHYOF KARL MARX

Page 2: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

Born on May 5, 1818, in Tier, a part of the German Rhineland ceded to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

His parents, whose ancestors included numerous Jewish scholars and rabbis, were converts to the Lutheran faith.

The conversion represented an attempt by the family to overcome the obstacles to its socioeconomic ambitions posed by

German anti-Semitism.

KARL MARX:LIFE and LEGACY

Married Jenny von Westphalen, daughter of a relatively prominent Prussian government official from his hometown of Trier. The Westphalen

family did not approve of the match.

Established a friendship with Friedrich Engels, son of a wealth textile manufacturer and the like-minded exponent of radical political causes. For the rest of his life, Marx found in these two people the emotional, financial

and the intellectual support he needed to pursue his scholarship.

Page 3: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:LIFE and LEGACY

Became immersed in urban life and the

philosophical system, Hegelianism, from

which his own thought evolved.

Part of a group of theorists, known as young Hegelians, that antagonized powerful

supporters of the status quo by claiming the time

had come to challenge the Prussian absolutism of King

Frederick William III

Marx first majored in

law but soon changed to philosophy.

After earning a doctorate in 1841, he became the editor of the Rheinische

Zeitung, a journal dedicated to revealing

how Prussian authorities systematically oppressed

Rhineland peasants.

To escape Prussian repression, Marx next

traveled to Paris, where he began to work on a

series of essays that became known as The

Economic and Philosophic

Manuscripts of 1844.

Page 4: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:LIFE and LEGACY

While in Paris, Marx continued to work as a journalist and editor of the Deutch Franzoesche Johr Buecher. The radical

quality of his work get him into trouble with the

authorities once again and eventually led to his expulsion from France.

Settled next in Brussels, he joined a group of German

emigres , calling themselves the Communist League who were attempting to organize a clandestine working-class revolutionary movement.

Wrote the Communist Manifesto of 1848 to explain the differences between the league’s brand of

socialism and rival approaches by such theorist as Henri Comte de Saint Simon, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen, Michael Balourin and Pierre Joseph

Proudhon.

Page 5: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:LIFE and LEGACY

Ends with the famous words: “Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all

countries, unite!”

Represents Marx insistence on the unity of theory and what he calls praxis or practice.

Marx’s goal is to stimulate action by communicating his ideas to the widest audience possible of intellectuals and workers

alike. As he wrote in his 1845 Theses on Feurbach. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways.

The point however, is to change it.”

Page 6: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:HISTORICAL MATERIALISM

Hegel considers this pattern to be abstract and metaphysical.

From Hegel, Marx learned that history follows a meaningful pattern of progress and not simply a process of only tangentially

related events.

Marx searches for it in the most concrete material aspects of human existence: production of the basic means to support life

itself.

Marx argues, before human beings can engage in imaginative thought, they must first discover ways to feed clothe, and house

themselves.

According to Marx, therefore, the manner in which people work to secure the means for survival provides the underlying

connecting thread of history.

KARL MARX

GEORG HEGEL

Page 7: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:HISTORICAL MATERIALISM

ADVANCED COMMUNISM

CAPITALISM = NEW THESIS

FEUDALISM = NEW THESIS

SLAVERY = NEW THESIS

PRIMITIVE COMMUNISM

END OF DIALECTICAL CHANGE

NEGATION OF CAPITALISM BY THE PROLETARIAT THROUGH VIOLENT

UPHEAVAL.

NEGATION OF FEUDALISM BY CAPITALISTS THROUGH VIOLENT

UPHEAVAL

NEGATION OF SLAVERY BY FEUDAL LORDS THROUGH VIOLENT

UPHEAVAL

NEGATION OF PRIMITIVE COMMUNISM BY SLAVEHOLDERS

THROUGH VIOLENT UPHEAVAL

SYNTHESIS

SYNTHESIS

SYNTHESIS

SYNTHESIS

THESIS

ANTITHESIS

ANTITHESIS

ANTITHESIS

ANTITHESIS

Page 8: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:HISTORICAL MATERIALISM

Marx offers historical materialism to explain not only the entire scope of human history but the qualities of particular epochs as well. He thus argues that legal, intellectual,

political, social, religious, and cultural institutions—in other words, everything going on in a culture other than economics—are defined by the economic conditions that exist in that

culture at any particular time.

ECONOMIC CONDITION

Forces of production Relations of production

Refers to the technology that people utilize to create the physical

necessities of life.

Refers to the division of people into economic classes based on the

function they perform in the production process.

For Marx, the connection between economic classes is by definition manipulative. It always involves the subjugation of one class by another. As long as economic classes exist, he stipulates, the majority will always work and be exploited and the dominant class will

always reap the profits.

Page 9: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:HISTORICAL MATERIALISM

Superstructure (everything other than economics going on in a particular society at a particular time: political, social, religious,

legal, educational, cultural institutions of every kind, etc.)

Substructure (economic conditions = forces and relations of productions)

Forces of production

Relations of production

Which together make up substructure

Complement each other and bring about a thesis.

Forces of production

Relations of production

contradictions Resulting in an

Antithesis that in turn will change existing political,

social, and cultural institutions—

superstructure

Page 10: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:MARXIST ANTHROPOLOGY

Marxian scholarship also owes a debt to the research of Lewis Morgan, known as the

Father of American Anthropology.

Concluded that the first human beings lived in societies where there was no

private property and everyone worked cooperatively on every task to meet the

demands of the common good.

To Marx, the societies Morgan identified are examples of primitive communism.

Lewis Morgan

Karl Marx

Page 11: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:MARXIST ANTHROPOLOGY

FEUDALISMCAPITALISM

bourgeoisie

proletariat

who owns the industries

who works for the bourgeoisie

Marx describes the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat as a form of wage slavery. He predicts

that as the bourgeoisie continue to enrich themselves, the proletariat will continue to get poorer and poorer.

Unemployment and economic crises will multiply.

Page 12: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:MARXIST ANTHROPOLOGY

Period of advance communism

A final equilibrium between the forces and relations of productions

will be achieved, resulting in the cessation of dialectical change.

This period bears a marked resemblance to that of primitive communism.

During advance communism, according to Marx, equality will again

prevail because machines will all do the work and

everyone will own all the machines.

Will be characterized by the appearance of “really

human morality which stands above class

antagonism.”

Page 13: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:MARXIST ANTHROPOLOGY

Once a society’s economic substructure is transformed into an authentically level playing field, he concludes morality will become authentically respectful, tolerant, gentle, and kind in return.

With this authentic equality, also will come the demise of government, religion, and the traditional family because they are part of an ideological false consciousness.

GOVERNMENT

RELIGION

TRADITIONAL FAMILY

The government of persons is replaced by the administration of things.

Religion will no longer be necessary because to Marx, its purpose is to drug or stupefy the subordinate class into

passively accepting injustice on earth in favor of a perfect life in heaven—an opium of the masses.

Traditional monogamous family will disappear because its hierarchal structure relegates children and especially women,

to an inferior status.

Page 14: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:THEORY OF ALIENATION

GEORG HEGEL

Another aspect of Hegelianism that Marx adapts to suit his own materialistic orientation is Hegel’s theory of alienation.

Hegel maintains that the most effective method for appropriating the universe is to conquer it through

mental concepts.By thinking about the universe, we can make it our

mental property and achieve the peace of mind we so desperately desire.

Universe…

KARL MARX

The correct means by which human beings can gain control of their lives and the universe

is by working creatively to produce the necessary ingredients for survival.

Page 15: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:THEORY OF SURPLUS VALUE

stipulates that a commodity’s value or price depends on the number of human labor hours spent producing it.

labor theory value

Marx observes that superior capitalist technology enables workers to produce enough value and make enough money in, say, four hours to feed, clothe, and house

themselves for a day. Yet their bosses insists on, say, eight-hours work day.

Hours exerted by workers, that produce value essential for their survival—socially

necessary labor

Value produced by workers in excess of socially necessary labor—surplus value—

source of exploitation in capitalist societies.

Page 16: Karl Marx and His Political Philosophy

KARL MARX:THEORY OF SURPLUS VALUE

Power of human labor variable capital

Machinery, buildings, and raw materials constant capital