Marxism

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Marxism

MARXISM Marxism : Different Stages of History Client 's Name College Instructor Subject Abstract Karl Marx was a socialist theoretician and a major figure in the history of economic and philosophical thought . Marx was a relativizing historicist according to whom all social relations between men , as well as all systems of ideas , are specifically rooted in historical periods Marx stated that "Ideas and categories are no more eternal than the relations which they express . They are historical and transitory products . Karl Marx , The Poverty

of Philosophy , [1847a] , London : Lawrence Wishart , 1955 Chapter II ,

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During his initial days , he was deeply influenced by Feuerbach , which is reflected in his early works devoted mainly to the critique of Hegel 's political philosophy from a left- Hegelian , radical humanist perspective . With time and critical examination Marx realized that legal relations and forms of the state have their roots in material and economic conditions . Engels was reaching similar conclusions as a result of his experiences in Manchester (The Condition of the Working Class in England (1844 , and the two collaborated in a number of works attacking their young Hegelian contemporaries (Feuerbach , Stirner , Ruge , Bruno Bauer ) for their idealism (The Holy Family (1844 , The German Ideology (1845 . Although Marx and Engels credit Feurbach as the philosopher who restored materialism to its rights , they felt that the theory as propounded by Feaurbach was severely inhibited by the emphasis on idealism with respect to the philosophy of religion and ethics Marx and Engels , The German Ideology [1845-6] , London : Lawrence Wishart 1975Vol . XIV , pp . 652-54 . Marx felt that the prevalent beliefs and theories of Classical Economics in texts had an historical , eternal fixed and abstract conception of the economic categories of capitalism Althusser and E . Balibar , Reading Capital , London : Verso , 1970 ,pp92-93 This led Marx and Engels to analyze class relations with respect to Capitalism using Dialectic Analysis as a tool from which emerged the `Materialist Theory of History . During the course of this Essay , I will be studying the various stages of Materialistic History and the transition from one stage to the succeeding stage .Marxism : Different Stages of History Dialectic Analysis The basic premise of dialectical analysis is the theory in which society is treated as a historically evolving and systemically interrelated whole , has had a profound impact on political science , economics and sociology . This dialectical method , which seeks to uncover the full context of historically specific social interactions in any given system , is used by Marx as a tool for understanding class relationships under capitalism , and as a means for altering such structures fundamentally . Uniting theory and practice , Marx declared in his `Theses on Feuerbach

`The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways the point is to change it ' Marx , Karl (1845 ) Theses on Feuerbach , in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels , Selected Works , New York : International Publishers , 1968 , pp . 28-30

Dialectical materialism is essentially characterized by the belief that history is the product of class struggle and obeys the general Hegelian...