- Marx was historicist - History cannot be done in abstraction from histrorical events
- Englightenment lacked explanation for social change
- Thought humans were an organism that changes and develops
- Society and individuals cannot be understood other than historically
- What is History? - For Marx history can be understood through historical materialism
- Our ideas and philosophies etc rest on nature of the production of our means of survival
- For Marx, humans are essentially producers
- All human history is based on class struggle. This would dissapear with the victory of the proletariat.
- Modern work is alienated, insecure, workers paid little whilst capitalists get rich.
- Unemployment is freedom and capitalism is bad for capitalists
- Marx also thinks we should not have private property
- Preceded and influenced Marx
- Hegel thought that the historical process was dialectial
- The Dialectic: All things are contradictory in themselves - Contradiction is basis of movement, life and change.
- Everything exists in the infinite mind of God (absolute spirit) = Hegel's dialectic. Simple unity
- Human history is an aspect of God (absolute spirit) because he is an idealist.
- Marx did not agree with this or that everything was an aspect of this because alienation is sold by developing our human consciousness
- For Marx the dialectic is a tool to understood historical change because for Marx history is all about class struggle.
Relations of Production
- Social relations in which we enter in order to produce and survive
- Involves cooperation towards a common goal and division of labour
- Involves power relations between those who control production and those who don't
- Class arises when…