Historical Materialism: Marx

Kandiyali, Jan

Abstract

This chapter discusses the philosophical side of Marx's thought as well as some of the major debates about it in the secondary literature. It is organized into three sections. The first examines Marx's early writings, focusing, in particular, on his views on religion, the limitations of political emancipation and the dehumanizing conditions of work under capitalism. The second examines Marx's materialist theory of history, the view that history is characterized by the development of productive power to free people from material scarcity. The third examines the problematic area of Marx's ethics. Marx's remarks on this topic are scattered and unsystematic. Consequently, they generate a number of difficult questions about how, and in what way, he criticizes capitalism. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Marx's vision of the good life under communism

Citation

Kandiyali, J. (2019). Historical Materialism: Marx. In J. Shand (Ed.), A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (236-260). Wiley

• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Deposit Date: Sep 23, 2021
• Publisher: Wiley
• Pages: 236-260
• Series Title: Blackwell Companions to Philosophy
• Book Title: A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
• Chapter Number: 9
• ISBN: 9781119210047
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1624495
• Publisher URL: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/A+Companion+to+Nineteenth+Century+Philosophy-p-9781119210047