Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist movement. He published various books during his lifetime, some of his works were co-written with his friend and fellow German revolutionary socialist,
THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS OF KARL MARX This real, concrete labor as Marx puts it, is too varied and complex to provide us with the measure of value that we need. To find our measure we must abstract labor from its concrete form. Writes Marx, A use value, or useful article, therefore has value only because abstract human labor is objectified or materialized in it. So labor has a dual character: On the one hand, all labor is an expenditure of human labor power in the physiological sense, and it is in this quality of being equal, or abstract, human labor that it forms the value of commodities. On the other hand, all labor is an expenditure of human labor power in a particular form and with a definite aim, and it is in this quality of being definite useful labor that it produces use values. Marx described this twofold character of labor as one of the best points in my book.
The capitalist mode of production involves, according to Marx, two great separations. The first — the separation of the units of production. In other words, the capitalist economy is a system divided into separate, interdependent, and competing producers. Just as important, however, is the division within each unit of production, between the owner of the means of production and the direct producers, that is, between capital and wage labor. Commodities can exist, Marx pointed out, without capitalism. Money and trade are to be found in precapitalist societies. However, the exchange of commodities in such societies is mainly a means of obtaining use values, the things people need. Each producer takes his commodity and sells it for money, using that money to buy another commodity from another producer. Money is the only intermediary in the transaction. Money is invested in order to produce commodities which are society and with the average degree of skill and intensity of labor prevalent in that society.
Economic determinism is theory which attributes primacy to the economic structure over politics in the development of human history. It is usually associated with theories of Karl Marx, although many Marxist thinkers have dismissed plain and unilateral economic determinism as a form of "vulgar Marxism", or "economism", nowhere included in Marx's works. Economic determinism as understood by Marxism is the belief that economical laws determine the course of history. The law of economic determinism attributed to Marx's historical materialism is simple: selfpreservation or the pursuit of food, clothing, and shelter is the supreme instinct in man. Therefore, the argument in favor of economic determinism says, it is natural to expect that the overwhelming amount of the decisions made by people will involve their pursuit of food, clothing, and shelter. Furthermore, it is predictable that these decisions will be made in such a way that they will favor acquisition of food, clothing, or shelter. A decision made by an individual against food, clothing, or shelter would clearly be against that persons interest and would clearly be uncommon if not rare. In as much as food, clothing, and shelter are commodities which are bought, sold and/or traded in society. The pursuit of these commodities is an economic activity.
Rigorously trained in the Hegelian dialectic, the young Ph. D. Karl Marx disagreed with Hegel's definition of the actual forces with which the dialectic operated. For Hegel, it was ideas! For Marx, it was economic relationships to the methods of production. For a comparison of these two approaches, see Comparison of Hegel's and Marx's view of the dialectical situation.
The Dialectic In Action Antithe sis Serfs and Thesis Feudal lords Peasants Synthesi s (thesis) City Life
The Dialectic Thes Feudal is lords Synthes is (thesis) City Life In Action Antithe Serfs and sis Peasants Guilds Synthes is (thesis) Entrepreneurs Antithe sis Proletariat Synthe sis Classless Society “Communism” Antithe sis
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