Six Questions:

1. What is the most important part of the human experience

In a capitalist society, human needs are defined by the system of private ownership. Instead of mere food, clothing, and
shelter, human beings need money. Moreover, capitalism mandates different needs for the different social classes that it
creates. As capitalists accumulate wealth, their needs become increasingly more refined, even as the workers are forced
to adjust their needs downward, making do with the bare minimum that the system pays them to stay alive. The modern
system of ethics is shaped by the needs created by capitalism. In capitalism, self-denial becomes a cardinal virtue, with
the moral ideal embodied by the miser and the thrifty worker scrimping and saving. Everything and everyone is treated
in terms of utility and price. Capitalism demands that people be oriented to the world in this way simply to secure their
own survival. In such a system, the worker quickly becomes conscious of his deprived and miserable status in relation to
the capitalist. The solution to this situation of alienation is Communism, which does away with alienation by doing away
with the system of private property that creates it.

2. How are your ideas relevant today?

This is merely a bare outline of Marxs extensive political/economic/social philosophy. Suffice it to say, Marx had a
profound effect on the world. He is at times considered the father of the social sciences and his economic philosophy is
still considered a brilliant and insightful analysis of the human condition. His ideas sparked revolutions across the world
from the multi-national Revolution of 1848 to the Soviet takeover of Russia to Mao Zedong in China to Castro in Cuba
and countless other, mostly failed, attempts at forcibly installing communism. Today, many still consider themselves
Marxists all over the world, even though only Chinas communist-capitalist hybrid economy and Cuba hold on to the
Marxist ideal on a national level. Still, the socialist governments of Europe and North America owe a large debt to his
ideas, despite the regular vilification of this great thinker.

3. Who was your target audience

It spoke to the working class or proletariat to explain their situation, provide hope, and prod them toward revolutionary
action. It warned the owners and beneficiaries of capitalism, the bourgeoisie, that their domination of the world was not
only unjust but doomed. The intent was to energize the workers and demoralize their class enemies.

4. Who/What influenced your philosophy

Immanuel Kant: Immanuel Kant is believed to have had the greatest influence of any philosopher of modern times.
Kantian philosophy was the basis on which the structure of Marxism was built particularly as it was developed by
Hegel. Hegel's dialectical method, which was taken up by Karl Marx, was an extension of the method of reasoning by
antinomies that Kant used.

Ludwig Feuerbach: Ludwig Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist. Feuerbach proposed that people
should interpret social and political thought as their foundation and their material needs. He held that an individual is
the product of their environment, that the whole consciousness of a person is the result of the interaction of sensory
organs and the external world. Marx (and Engels) saw in Feuerbach's emphasis on people and human needs a movement
toward a materialistic interpretation of society.

5. What do you think of the world today?

I dont appreciate the world today. It is conforming to societal norms of capitalism and materialistic. The majority of the
Western World has evolved into targeting to capitalist material goods and not evolving as a societal community whole
but more individualistic.

6. How might religion affect your philosophy?

Marx was raised by Jews who converted to Lutheranism for political reasons.
Its not that Marx was antagonistic toward religion, he just saw it from a uniquely historical perspective. Everything to
Marx was a matter of society which, in turn, was a reflection of economics. Oppression, poor economic conditions, fear
and desperation caused humanity to cling to religion and Marx always hoped for a world where such comfort was
unneeded.Marx ultimately became an atheist who saw religion as a reflection of a flawed society. The abolition of
religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.