Karl Marx

Historical Materialism

• Marx was historicist - History cannot be done in abstraction from histrorical events
• Englightenment lacked explanation for social change
• Thought humans were an organism that changes and develops
• Society and individuals cannot be understood other than historically
• What is History? - For Marx history can be understood through historical materialism
• Our ideas and philosophies etc rest on nature of the production of our means of survival
• For Marx, humans are essentially producers

Communist Manifesto

• All human history is based on class struggle. This would dissapear with the victory of the proletariat.
• Modern work is alienated, insecure, workers paid little whilst capitalists get rich.
• Unemployment is freedom and capitalism is bad for capitalists
• Marx also thinks we should not have private property

Hegel

• Preceded and influenced Marx
• Hegel thought that the historical process was dialectial
• The Dialectic: All things are contradictory in themselves - Contradiction is basis of movement, life and change.
• Everything exists in the infinite mind of God (absolute spirit)  = Hegel's dialectic. Simple unity
• Human history is an aspect of God (absolute spirit) because he is an idealist.
• Marx did not agree with this or that everything was an aspect of this because alienation is sold by developing our human consciousness
• For Marx the dialectic is a tool to understood historical change because for Marx history is all about class struggle.

Relations of Production

• Social relations in which we enter in order to produce and survive
• Involves cooperation towards a common goal and division of labour
• Involves power relations between those who control production and those who don't
• Class arises when…