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Marxist Philosophy

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Submitted By kyleskeete
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Introduction
Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) was born the son of a well-known lawyer, in Trier. He was a German philosopher, economist and historian whose ideas played a major role in the development of the social sciences and the socialist political movement. During his lifetime Marx wrote and published many articles and books, most notably; The Communist Manifesto and Capital. Admirers of Marx work have drawn from what he wrote, taking his ideas one step further and created grand theoretical viewpoints which are known to us as Marxism. Marxism is a theory of economics and history and the basic explanation for how societies go through the process of change, Marx believed that capitalism was evil and created increasing disproportion so wealth in society, since the worker would become poorer the more wealth he created for their employers, this was because a worker becomes a cheaper commodity the more commodities he produces. The central theme of Marxism is public ownership and control of all means of production. Marxism thus calls for abolition of the capitalist economic system where chief means of production are privately owned. According to Marxism, supporting the development of a classless society would have led to prosperity and freedom for all.
Marxist Ideas
One of the basic ideas of Marxism is that of Dialectical Materialism. This outlook is referred to as dialectical materialism because its approach to the occurrences of nature, its method of studying and apprehending these occurrences is dialectical. Dialectics is derived from the Greek word, dialego, which means, to disclose, or to debate. Ancient philosophers believed that the disclosure of contradictions in thought and the clash of opposite opinions was the best method of arriving at the truth. The method of dialectic thought was extended to occurrences in nature, developing the dialectical method of

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