Karl Marx; (C)Eddie Babor's the Human Person; Not Real, but Existing

Karl Marx –Report by Ma. Trixia F. Espiritu Santo DKI

God bless you who’s reading this 

Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Marx’s views about human nature lies in his ideas of society and labor, both linked by his concept of matter that serves as the fundamental argument in Marxism.

If man is greatly affected by the material conditions in his surroundings then man’s nature lies within the heart of society and labor which forms man.

Two contending camps offering an understanding of human nature

“There is no such thing as individual human nature.”

1. Encyclopedists represented by
Dennis Diderot and Jean-Jacques
Rousseau offers an encyclopedic view of man.
2. Economists represented by Adam
Smith looks at human existence with an economic perspective.
CONCEPT OF MATTER
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Not a materialist philosophy, despite Marx’s stress on matter
Not a teaching of matter in relation to mind and body

“ Marx’s materialism as a theory is oriented primarily towards history and society.”  Historico-societal concept of Marx on matter can’t be dissociated from his meaning of human labor and society must be seen from the standpoint of matter; it plays a vital role in how Marx sees human nature. “Everything in man is determined by the material conditions of his life.”
 Modes or Means of production of man’s subsistence is the molder of his consciousness
 Society forms man.

 Human nature is not static because it is dependent on the progressive change of labor and society. “All acts bear social repercussions; no act is individualistic. Eating, dancing, swimming, reading, propagating etc.. are always social in character.”
 The focus of the real nature of man is focused in the totality of social relations.
 Everything which a person does is always social in nature.
Despite Marx’s claim that human nature is dependent on society: “Human nature is not given, it is something made; man’s own creation.”

Nature is the 1Material