19th Century Philosophy (1) The names of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels are strongly associated with the concept of dialectical materialism, which became popular among great many people at the early stages of twentieth century. This concept is a synthesis of German dialectics and metaphysical materialism. dialectical materialism strives to explain socio-political developments in every society, within a context of economy, as it suggests that the division of labor defines the political reality. Marxism operates with matter, as its main philosophical tool, while denying philosophical validity to the notion of spirit. In other words, Marxism suggests that matter is capable of transforming itself without involvement of the third party. These transformations correspond to the objective reality.
The process of industrial production alone, causes society to adopt a particular form of government, for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of such production. In their turn, Marx and Engel view industrial manufacturing as such that is being subjected to the division of labor. Division of labor allows capitalists to exploit workers labor to the full extent, as it is well known that such division increases productions efficiency. However, it also causes workers to become socially alienated, because their labor becomes an expendable element, during the process of manufacturing. Marxism also suggests that the division of labor allows an additional value to be made. In its turn, this causes the continuous stratification of society, as the means of production remain in the hands of capitalists. In other words rich get richer and poor get poorer. In addition, it prevents workers from realizing that they have the same goal removing capitalists from position of power.
The Term Paper on Division Of Labor Marx Production Society
Marx's View of the Division of Labor The Division of Labor is a subject which has fascinated social scientists for millennia. Before the advent of modern times, philosophers and theologians concerned themselves with the implications of the idea. Plato saw as the ultimate form of society a community in which social functions would be rigidly separated and maintained; society would be divided into ...
Division of labor causes workers to think of their personal agenda as such that has a foremost priority, which allows capitalist to continue exploiting them, as these workers are unable to unite. However, this increases the social tensions, within a society, when it is only the matter of time, before such tensions transform itself into class struggle. According to Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, there can be no reconciliation reached between workers and bourgeoisie, because representatives of these two social classes have opposite agenda. Thus, the physical elimination of bourgeoisie is absolutely logical and necessary, because it corresponds to the most fundamental notions of dialectical materialism when the mass of physical object reaches a critical point, the object changes its very essence. This is the main philosophical concept, upon which dialectical materialism is based. Marxs and Engels viewed quantitative factor as such that is capable of transforming itself into qualitative one, under certain circumstances. Therefore, they suggested that industrial societies are bound to undergo the process of social tribulations, which in the end, would allow proletarians to take over the political power. We can say that dialectical materialism is only the philosophy, which claims that it is possible to define the course of social dynamics in every society, well ahead of time.
However, the philosophical validity of such claim has been greatly undermined by the objective reality, because social and cultural progress that we associate now with 20th century, did not lead to proletarians taking over the whole world, as it was predicted by the prophets of universal peace and tolerance. (2) Marx and Engels suggest that only a fraction of capitalists income is spent on the expansion of production, with a bulk of capital being simply saved in banks. Therefore, they conclude that another form of social order needs to be established, which would economically benefit many more people, by investing capital into expansion and improvement of production facilities. Marx and Engels deny the existence of any other factors that play role in shaping up the social relations, except for economical ones. Peoples inequality is artificially created and maintained. The notions of common good, morality and solidarity are nothing but chimeras. Marxs sociology does not attach any significance to the role of individual; it is only concerned with his social status.
The Essay on Socioeconomic Class Marx Social Change
... the goal of capital gain. When analyzing human nature and socioeconomic class division in terms of social change, Marx believed that ultimately, ... power have authority over a worker, therefore forbidding the worker from striving to raise to the next class level 3 f 9. ... and history" (p. 72). Marx and Engels viewed the theory of ideology as a relationship between social structure and thought systems. ...
This can only be thought of as one-dimensional approach to complicated matters, on his part. Marx and Engels promoted the idea of dictatorship of proletariat, which was to insure that other social classes would gradually cease to exist. As history shows, very often, Marxist revolutionaries were not patient enough to wait until it happens naturally, so they would resort to mass executions to speed up the process. Marx anticipated the time when there would be no national states. His vision of future resembles anarchist utopia, from certain prospective. Yet, he also theorized that masses could not effectively rule themselves, which is why he suggested that the ruling elite should be created out of idealist promoters of workers cause, such as himself.
The whole human history, according to Marx and Engels, is the history of antagonism between classes. The eventual outcome of this antagonism they see in physical elimination of representatives of oppressive class. The social processes are defined by this struggle alone: Thus capital presupposes wage-labor and wage-labor presupposes capital. They mutually condition one another; they mutually bring each other into existence and they also strive to dominate over each other… The increase of capital is, therefore, an increase of the proletariat, i.e. of the working class (Marx, p.
567).
However, even though Marx and Engels spoke on behalf of working class, they were not able to realize that it is labor that has the most value and not the physical means of production. The bearded promoter of workers cause and his boyfriend Engels suggested that, for as long as worker is not hungry, all his needs are being fully satisfied. Such suggestion corresponds to the very essence of dialectical materialism, which views proletarians as nothing but working robots, which are only preoccupied with filling up their stomachs with food. The stratification of societies is well known fact, but the economic factors that influence it are derivatives of racial and cultural preconditions in every society. As history of 20th century shows, it was possible in many countries to eliminate class antagonism altogether, in order to achieve greater national goals.
The Essay on Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels
In their Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels applied the term communism to the final part of socialism in which all class differences would end and people would live in peace. Marx and Engels were said to have found a scientific approach to socialism based on the laws of history. They said that the course of history was resolved by the conflict of opposite forces based on the ...
Therefore, Marxs class struggle theory is nothing but an outdated concept of individual preoccupied with its own grandeur complex. Despite the fact that Marx had rightfully pointed out to a few characteristics of industrialist production process, his sociological conclusions do not have an academic validity.
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1848. 2001. Marxism Page. 12 Mar. 2008. http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifes to.html Sewell, Rob What is dialectical materialism?. 2001. Marxist.Com.
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