Flaws of Marxism
The flaws of Marxism.
Introduction to Philosophy T-122
Dr. Danielle A. Layne
April 15th, 2011
At the turn of the 19th century, an unprecedented amount of change had because of the Industrial Revolution. The concept of slavery in its typical terms had been abolished. Society itself had drastically changed. The population had more than doubled in Europe. Due to the Enlightenment era, philosophers had reduced God to a realm that does not describe the way our world works, and rationalism had taken its place. The dynamic between the peasant and the landowner had transitioned to the worker and the factory owner. Some of the same abuses continued to occur. Wealth and money, because of the system known as capitalism, became the means of all work. Realism had taken the place of the romantic, idealist philosophers, and the more contemporary philosophers of the 18th and 19th century defined the way our world operates through the realities in which they perceived. One philosopher in particular, Karl Marx, saw the system of capitalism as the root of evil in our world and as a hindrance of individual life and creativity. Although humans are producers, and capitalism is created through the production of labor for wealth. In our period of history, capitalism has alienated the human being. Although he rejected idealism, Marx, ironically, created an ideology that can only realistically exist in theory and not in true practice. Marx’s ideology is, and during his time in history, implausible because of the nature of human beings. Marxism is inherently flawed because of an imaginary struggle he views as inevitable, which in actuality is avoidable. In order for one to see the implausibility of Marx’s ideology, we must examine certain aspects of Marxism to note its problem areas. For Marx, history has been an account of the relationship between production and labor between individuals; it is a process. There is not an essence of
Introduction to Philosophy T-122
Dr. Danielle A. Layne
April 15th, 2011
At the turn of the 19th century, an unprecedented amount of change had because of the Industrial Revolution. The concept of slavery in its typical terms had been abolished. Society itself had drastically changed. The population had more than doubled in Europe. Due to the Enlightenment era, philosophers had reduced God to a realm that does not describe the way our world works, and rationalism had taken its place. The dynamic between the peasant and the landowner had transitioned to the worker and the factory owner. Some of the same abuses continued to occur. Wealth and money, because of the system known as capitalism, became the means of all work. Realism had taken the place of the romantic, idealist philosophers, and the more contemporary philosophers of the 18th and 19th century defined the way our world operates through the realities in which they perceived. One philosopher in particular, Karl Marx, saw the system of capitalism as the root of evil in our world and as a hindrance of individual life and creativity. Although humans are producers, and capitalism is created through the production of labor for wealth. In our period of history, capitalism has alienated the human being. Although he rejected idealism, Marx, ironically, created an ideology that can only realistically exist in theory and not in true practice. Marx’s ideology is, and during his time in history, implausible because of the nature of human beings. Marxism is inherently flawed because of an imaginary struggle he views as inevitable, which in actuality is avoidable. In order for one to see the implausibility of Marx’s ideology, we must examine certain aspects of Marxism to note its problem areas. For Marx, history has been an account of the relationship between production and labor between individuals; it is a process. There is not an essence of