Karl Marx -was a nineteenth-century German philosopher. He primarily worked in political philosophy
and was a well-known communist supporter. He co-wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital,
which together formed the foundation of Marxism.
Born: May 5, 1818 Trier Germany
Died: March 14, 1883 (aged 64) London England
Founder: First International
Notable Works: “Das Kapital” “The Communist Manifesto”
Subjects Of Study: capitalism exchange value philosophy of history
Background
-Karl Heinrich Marx's father, Heinrich, was a corporate lawyer who was a man of the Liberation,
devoted to Kant and Voltaire, and took part in Prussian constitutional protests and demonstrations.
-Both parents were Jewish and descended from a long line of rabbis, but a year or so before Karl was
born, his father was baptized in the Evangelical Established Church, most likely because his
professional career required it.
-Although religion influenced Karl less as a youth than the Enlightenment's critical, sometimes radical
social policies, his Jewish background exposed him to prejudice and discrimination, which may have
led him to wonder the role of religion in society and made a significant contribution to his desire for
social change.
Things that make him famous
-Karl Marx was a highly regarded thinker of the nineteenth century. For more than 150 years, his
meditations on how societies work and should work have informed and challenged humans.
-In explaining change, motion, and development of the objective world, nature, society, and thought,
he discovered the law of dialectics (law of motion). Marx discovered the law of social transformation
in the same way that natural scientists discovered the law of natural transformation (from one stage
to another).
-Marx had a significant impact on how people thought about culture. While Marx is not considered a
pure cultural theorist, his writings on aesthetics, communication, and interpretation contributed to
the growing cultural studies movement.
Philosophy
-Karl Marx created Marxism, a broad philosophy that unifies social, political, and economic concept, in
the second half of the nineteenth century. It is essentially focused with the conflict between the
working class and the ownership class, and it favors communism and socialism over capitalism. It is a
body of doctrine developed in the mid-nineteenth century by Karl Marx and, to a lesser extent,
Friedrich Engels. It began with three related ideas: a philosophical anthropology, a history theory, and
an economic and political program.
- The dialectic, materialism, commodities, capital, capitalism, labor, surplus-value, the working class,
alienation, means of communication, the general intellect, ideology, socialism, communism, and class
struggles are among the key Marxist concepts covered.
- Marxism is concerned with socialism's principles and application. It promotes the creation of a
classless society. In contrast to private ownership, the means of production, distribution, and
exchange should be owned by the community as a whole.
-Marx contends that social class differences cause inequalities in society. Marx contends that largescale change is required to improve society and make it more equitable. Marxism has been chastised
for ignoring other important factors such as gender and ethnicity in favor of focusing solely on social
class.
Source- Philosophy and Progress: Vols. LXI-LXII, January-June, July-December, 2017
ISSN 1607-2278 (Print), DOI : https://doi.org/10.3329/pp.v61i1-2.44200