Lewis Robertson

May 11th 2017

Karl Marx and his philosophy

Bayard Herndon
 Karl Marx is a philosopher who was born in Prussia. He is also considered a

socialist, economist as well as a sociologist. After Marx grew up, he became stateless (not

a citizen of any country) who lived in London. Marx, along with Freidrich Engles created

a book called the Communist Manifesto. What he did was look at different economic

aspects of countries as well as their history and criticized them at an intellectual level.

Marx believed that people who lived in a capitalistic society were involved in a class

struggle. A class struggle is defined as a conflict between the ruling class and the workers
in a capitalistic society which according to Marx will turn violent and lead to a workers

revolution according to the book Imperialism, crisis and class struggle. Karl Marx

argued that when the ruling owns the means of production, that workers are forced into

labor in order to survive and fit their basic necessities. Marx thinks that this will create

resentment and foster a new ideology called Socialism. Marx protested capitalism and its

unfair practices for the worker and encouraged the working class people to fight for

social and economic rights as well as political rights. He cared deeply about this as he

thought that this form of capitalistic exploitation lead to something called

estrangement. He thought that workers would lose their sense of morals and humanity

due to being apart of the bottom ladder of the social class and saw workers reactions as a

consequence of capitalism.

Marx also argued that in general workers in a capitalistic society could only do

what their superior told them to do, a classic example of this is a factory worker

tightening the same bolt a thousand times a day. He argued that a worker in these

circumstances have little to no individuality and the worker is thought of as a machine

and not a human being. In one of his notebooks he wrote a response to a James Mills

which backs up his point.

 Let us suppose that we had carried out production as human beings. Each of us

would have in two ways affirmed himself and the other person. 1) In my production I

would have objectified my individuality, its specific character, and therefore enjoyed not

only an individual manifestation of my life during the activity, but also when looking at

the object I would have the individual pleasure of knowing my personality to be

objective, visible to the senses and hence a power beyond all doubt. 2) In your enjoyment
or use of my product I would have the direct enjoyment both of being conscious of

having satisfied a human need by my work, that is, of having objectified man's essential

nature, and of having thus created an object corresponding to the need of another man's

essential nature. 3) I would have been for you the mediator between you and the species,

and therefore would become recognised and felt by you yourself as a completion of your

own essential nature and as a necessary part of yourself, and consequently would know

myself to be confirmed both in your thought and your love. 4) In the individual

expression of my life I would have directly created your expression of your life, and

therefore in my individual activity I would have directly confirmed and realised my true

nature, my human nature, my communal nature. (Marx's original notebook responding

to James Mill) Karl Marx was responding to James Mills (who created many ideas based

off political economics) basically explaining his idea of how working should be, where

you have the ability to reflect on your work in a positive light and be proud of what you

created. Rather than using an economic model that abuses the worker.

Marx is a controversial philosopher because his works or teachings have been not

only highly criticized, but also used as a pedestal to create an ideal working society where
people are equal. (Marx's Legacy Pages 431-439). Karl Marx philosophies have inspired

many people over the world, however his work Is up to interpretation. Many people draw

their own conclusions about his work (the communist manifesto specifically). Whats

interesting is that there are many ways Karl Marx can be interpreted. Even people who

support marxism bicker over his quotes and ideas. There is little doubt Marx contributed

enormously to education. He is given the credit for creating whats known as modern

sociology and is considered a legend among academia along with Sigmund Freud. Karl

Marx has influenced the world deeply with a knew kind of thinking. Many leaders use
Karl Marx ideas as examples to follow, regarding if they accurately followed Marx's

ideas is another story entirely. Some notable leaders that believed in Marx and cited him

as an influence include Fidel Castro, a legendary socialist / communist who became the

leader of Cuba via revolution. Same story with Vladimir Lenin and the USSR.

Karl Marx no doubt left a great Legacy, even one of his friends and great thinkers

Friedrich Engles said On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the

greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes,

and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep -- but for

ever. ( Frederick Engels Speech at the Grave)

Citations

Petras, J. F., & Veltmeyer, H. (2010). Imperialism, crisis and class struggle: the enduring
 verities and contemporary face of capitalism. Leiden: Brill. (shapiro)

Mclellan, D. (2006). Marxs Legacy. Karl Marx, 431-439 (shapiro)

Marx, K. (n.d.). Comments on James Mill,lments Dconomie Politique. Retrieved

May 25, 2017, from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/james-mill/

E. (n.d.). Frederick Engels Speech at the Grave of Karl MarxHighgate Cemetery,

London. March 17, 1883. Retrieved May 28, 2017, from

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1883/death/burial.htm