Marx And The German Ideology - 874 Words

‘It is not consciousness that determines life, but life that determines consciousness’ (Marx, The German Ideology). Discuss. The life determines consciousness motif presented by Marx in the German Ideology is a representation of his view on ideological beliefs, which misrepresent the world to subjects. The theory also explains how economical life influences thinking, through notions such as interests. In this essay I will discuss the claim made above by Marx through looking at what he meant by the terms ‘life’ and ‘consciousness’. Having then looked at how life influences our thinking, I will explain the significance of the notion of interests. This will build up to the latter half of the essay where I will look at how Marx is presented with a self-defeating worry. From this, I will provide my response by explaining how life determines consciousness, concluding that Marx’s theory isn’t self-defeating and his meaning is intact. I will begin by outlining Marx’s general argument for the way economical life influences our thinking. Marx’s view of human consciousness centers on his materialist method, which looks at how the economic and social life of man, influence his actual life and his thinking . Marx’s view is thus in direct contrast to German philosophy, since he holds thoughts as being determined by extra mental entities which is our consciousness, and this is what we use to define ourselves. The notion is borrowed from his teacher Hegel, for whom consciousness was aShow MoreRelatedKarl Marx on the German Ideology843 Words   |  3 PagesKarl Marx on the German Ideology: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels collaborated to produce The German Ideology, which was one of the classic texts generated by the two. Even though The German Ideology stands our as one of the major texts produced by the two, it was never published during Marx’s lifetime. This was a clear expression of the theory of history by Marx and its associated materialist metaphysics. One of the main reasons this text is a classic text by these philosophers is the fact thatRead MoreKarl Marx And The German Ideology1713 Words   |  7 PagesKarl Marx was born on May 5th, 1818, in Trier, Germany. (Rà ¼hle, 1943) He was a university scholar who gained knowledge in topics such as philosophy, law and history. (Rà ¼hle, 1943) Marx eventually switched from studying law to study philosophy, in which he gained his doctorate degree at Jena in. (Calhoun, Gerteis, Moody, Pfaff, Virk, 2012) Marx was known for being not only a social critic but also an economist. Marx is also known to have close working ties to Frederick Engels, a fellow sociologistRead MoreKarl Marx And The German Ideology1437 Words   |  6 PagesINTRODUCTION Long before our time, two prominent German philosophers emerged at the forefront of ideology and thinking. 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On the contrary, Bruno Bauer proposed that Je ws cut their religious ties all together and become politically emancipated while Karl Marx critiques this idea and proposesRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto And Das Kapital1507 Words   |  7 PagesKarl Marx A German philosopher, economist, journalist and revolutionary scientist, Marx was best known for his work in economics. He laid the foundations for today s theories of labor and capital. The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital were among the most famous of his published works. Born to a middle-class family in Trier, Prussia in 1818, his parents were Jewish, but converted to Christianity in 1816 due to strict anti- Jewish laws. He was baptized as a Christian at the age of six but later