1) Why does Marx believe that labor is essential for humans to exist?
2) Marx made the idea of communism seem so appealing throughout his writing. Even though Communism (as many people say), "sounds good on paper", why would it never realistically work? Modern day communism is essentially socialism...with a socialist society, I believe that we would be able to flourish as a society much more than living "enslaved under a power alien...a power which has become more and more enormous." (27) Everything is centered around materialism (as heavily covered in this writing), which apparently can define a man. I'm really just wondering why Marx's ideas would (presumably) never work. Is there ANY part of him that believes revolutions can happen in the mind?
Emily ~
ReplyDeleteI think Marx believes that labor is essential because he is arguing that humans are literally the fruit of their own personal labor. "As individuals express their life, so they are. What they are, therefore, coincides with their production, both with what they produce and with how they produce" (Marx & Engels 7). From my understanding, the term "labor" does not have to refer to physical labor necessarily, but the labor that goes into producing/creating one's image or persona. However, this labor could also be referring to the labor of humans as a group (i.e. "the productive forces of a nation") (Marx 8).
Labor, in the most general sense, is that activity we do to produce and reproduce ourselves everyday. However, I think Marx will often reserve "labor" to mean the work that people do within a capitalist system. So, labor is a type of "alienated" production or reproduction of one's life.
DeleteLabor, in the most general sense, is that activity we do to produce and reproduce ourselves everyday. However, I think Marx will often reserve "labor" to mean the work that people do within a capitalist system. So, labor is a type of "alienated" production or reproduction of one's life.
Delete1. Isn't it? You can't realistically feed yourself without doing anything. Even picking berries is a form of labor. Under the system we have you either directly produce, or you do something else (labor) and make money to trade for produced goods.
ReplyDelete2. From his tone he seems fairly convinced that his ideas are right; even if he isn't completely 100%, it's still an improvement over the excessive idealism of the other German philosophers.
As to why communism would "never" work: relevant.
Basically you can't force people into communism or socialism, because animalistic, individualistic human nature is more easily directed and influenced by capitalism. Corruption and greed can easily take down the system. All members of the society have to agree to cooperate under the new rules, and convincing people takes time (though with things like the United Nations one could say we're getting there).