To sketch a picture of the kind of philosophy that was prevalent in Marx's time, we must pause for a moment to consider Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 -1831).
His philosophy was a kind of metaphysics of the mind. His philosophy tries to find the absolute in the relative.
The absolute is the mind, but the mind externalizes itself in nature, in order to thereby arrive at consciousness of itself. In plain English, he means that we become aware of our consciousness through perception.
The mind is essentially idea, that is, thinking. In the history of humanity this thinking comes to itself, which must mean that the spirit discovers its own primacy as reality.
Thus humanity participates in the absolute Idea, which is the Deity, according to Hegel. Of course, in Protestant Prussia, he had to add this link.
An important metaphysical view of Hegel is that the thinking idea is essential activity, movement, and that this movement, however, is not linear.
It takes place in ever-renewed movements and counter-movements, but in this way, a new movement grows from the thesis and antithesis, which contains the two previous movements at a higher level, as a synthesis.
Hegel calls this process, which takes place according to the laws of reason, dialectics. The axiom applies to everything: What is reasonable is real, what is real is reasonable.
In the dialectical movement, the movement of the mind, and thus of nature and history, is understood as necessary. In Hegel, we see that nature and history take place through the process of thesis - antithesis - synthesis in the mind, in reason.
What is reasonable is real, in other words how our reality looks and develops is realized through the dialectical process in our mind, in reason. Hence the name idealism: everything takes place and is realized in the idea.
For a materialist, this is of course unworldly abstraction and metaphysics. Marx therefore believed that Hegel had been turned upside down and had to be put back down to earth.
Marx could agree that history is a dialectical movement of thesis and antithesis, but within a materialist ontology, rather than some abstract metaphysics of the mind.
This reminds me time and again of what I had done in the 6th grade at the gymnasium. The history teacher had noticed my interest in philosophy and, although it wasn't the normal routine of the history classes, he asked me to give a philosophy presentation to the class.
I even got two times a full hour (probably the teacher liked my uncommon interest in philosophy) and I spent all that time on Kant, German Idealism (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel), and a little Feuerbach and Marx.
And here is the catch: at the final graduation exam for history, you had to sit for at least an hour with your teacher and a professor of the university and show them, what you had learned.
It is 1969. At the universities in the Netherlands, there was a lot of uproar and unrest caused by left-wing, Marxist-Leninist activist students.
And I still have the feeling that I had said things that must have sounded like music in the ears of my teacher and the professor. I told them that when studying Marx, I really was shocked at how he pulled down this exalted Hegelian metaphysics to his materialist level.
They must have thought: hurrah, he'll not be one of those annoying leftist students........
It brought me an A+ for history :-)) I am sure. And behold what can happen in a lifetime. Exactly 55 years later I find Hegel's metaphysics just words and beyond reality and I'll gonna present you with the realistic and materialist ideas of Karl Marx.
Thank you for your attention again....
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
The Discussion
[13:19] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:19] herman Bergson: The floor is yours...
[13:19] Max Chatnoir: You were a scary sixth grader, Herman! How did Marx connect to Hegel?
[13:20] herman Bergson: The connection is the concept of dialectics....
[13:20] herman Bergson: the idea that everything is in development
[13:20] Max Chatnoir: thesis antithesis synthesis?
[13:20] Somedirtycat Saule: Can you give an example of problem solving comparing Hegel and Marx thinking?
[13:20] herman Bergson: through a process of thesis -anti thesis and synthesis
[13:21] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): hallo Baron
[13:22] herman Bergson: Well...If you take Hegel....he had the theory of Being vs.nothingness -Theis/antithisis....which would get together in Becoming....that was his logic...
[13:22] herman Bergson: total attraction/....
[13:22] herman Bergson: for Marx the thesis and antithesis were found in reality..in relalations between social classes
[13:23] Somedirtycat Saule: So it was the problems, using dialectics, that was different?
[13:23] Somedirtycat Saule: or questions
[13:24] herman Bergson: Hegel's approach was a completely rationalist and dualistic approach, while Marx focused on the sociological basis in reality
[13:24] Max Chatnoir: So Marx is applying Hegelian principles to social structures?
[13:24] herman Bergson: yes, you could say that...
[13:24] Somedirtycat Saule: Sociology is not pure logic, no.
[13:24] herman Bergson: H agreed that reality was a constant proces, but not in that Hegelian abstract and rational way
[13:25] Max Chatnoir: So the Hegelian world view is more from the inside of a single mind?
[13:25] herman Bergson: What we will get o is how Marx applied this idea of dialectics....
[13:26] herman Bergson: Ahh very true Max
[13:26] herman Bergson: But a premise is that this individual mind in fact coincides or something like that with the Absolute mind, according to Hegel
[13:27] Max Chatnoir: So in that view, we each share a piece of that Absolute?
[13:27] herman Bergson: A typical religious based line of thinking, I'd say
[13:27] herman Bergson: Something like that yes....
[13:27] herman Bergson: Like we discussed this Mr. KAstrup here...
[13:28] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): and in total we are the Absolute?
[13:28] herman Bergson: Leans on ideas of panpsychism...
[13:28] herman Bergson: Absolutely Beertje :-)))
[13:29] herman Bergson: I am sorry, but you have to forgive me that I can't take that German metaphysics of the romantics seriously
[13:29] herman Bergson: It is a lot of words...that is all
[13:29] herman Bergson: to me
[13:30] herman Bergson: Ohh I can tell you another story......
[13:30] herman Bergson: Another such 'horrible' philosophy is Husserlians phenomenology.....
[13:30] herman Bergson: I found it terrible as a student....
[13:30] Max Chatnoir: ooh, never heard of that one!
[13:31] herman Bergson: But the prof I had to take my exam with had written the book that we would be cross examined about....
[13:31] herman Bergson: by HIM!
[13:31] herman Bergson: But...that prof fell ill.....
[13:32] herman Bergson: And I immediately made an appointment for the exam with his replacing colleague
[13:32] herman Bergson: He was a Kantian specialist...and so I passed my exam on phenomenology
[13:33] herman Bergson: Escaped lots of questions about Heidegger for instance
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): ツ
[13:33] herman Bergson: I was specialized in Anglo-American analytical philosophy....:-)
[13:33] herman Bergson: and that brand dislikes German metaphysics lie chilli peppers
[13:34] herman Bergson: That is how I got through continental philosophy at the university as a student :-))
[13:35] herman Bergson: But Marx is another story today :-
[13:35] herman Bergson: I like that guy, fellow materialst so to speak :-))
[13:36] Somedirtycat Saule: I remember you publish chat logs somewhere, Herman?
[13:36] herman Bergson: http://thephilosophyclass.blogspot.com
[13:36] Somedirtycat Saule: Ty :)
[13:37] herman Bergson: Ahhh..you gonna use this chat to blackmail me, Some?
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): you have a lot to read there Saule
[13:37] herman Bergson: And play it dirty? :-))
[13:37] Somedirtycat Saule: Yes. Wonder what I can squeeze out of you. lol
[13:38] herman Bergson: Well...I am a cat with nine lives :-)
[13:38] bergfrau Apfelbaum: :-))
[13:39] herman Bergson: So...next Tuesday we'll have alook at how Marx interpreted dialectics
[13:39] Somedirtycat Saule: Im the dirtycat, but no dirtyplay. Not worry
[13:39] herman Bergson smiles
[13:39] herman Bergson: thank you Mr Saule :-))
[13:40] Somedirtycat Saule: ^^
[13:41] herman Bergson: But what amuses me really is that it is 55 years ago, that I had my first philosophy presentations for an audience (my class) and looked down on Marx:-)
[13:41] Max Chatnoir: So now you think he might have had something?
[13:42] herman Bergson: He really has a lot of interesting ideas if you compare thaat to the disastrous consequences of capitalism, free market and profit maximizations as the mean ethics of big companies
[13:43] herman Bergson: The relation between the poor an the rich
[13:43] herman Bergson: the inlimited right to accumulat private property and the power it gives people to manipulate whole societies with their accumulated money
[13:44] Max Chatnoir: If capitalist economics requires continuous growth, then at some point things are going to blow up.
[13:44] Max Chatnoir: I wonder if that is why people stopped talking about zero population growth....
[13:44] herman Bergson: at this moment there are three individuals in the US who own more weath than the whole 50% lower classes in the US
[13:45] herman Bergson: Another idea indeed Max....endless growth as our goal....
[13:46] herman Bergson: growth of what? Consumption, the wealth of the few?
[13:46] herman Bergson: or of healthcare an d education and elderly care?
[13:46] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i doubt on the last
[13:47] herman Bergson: How could you guess right Beertje :-))
[13:47] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): sometimes I guess right
[13:47] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): :))
[13:47] herman Bergson: You do indeed :-))
[13:47] Somedirtycat Saule: Its interesting that people can by own choises get out of the capitalistic slavery. And that the capitalists seems to know that trying to get people adicted to consumerism.
[13:48] herman Bergson: Yes Saule....these are the choices of the future
[13:48] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): they have all kind of tricks to get people addicted
[13:48] Max Chatnoir: fashion
[13:48] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): sweets
[13:49] Max Chatnoir: you can't possibly wear last year's dress!
[13:49] herman Bergson: Just think of the endless stream of commercials day in day out in all media
[13:49] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): lol, I have trousers that are 100 years old
[13:49] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): letterly
[13:50] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): my scarf I made is 45 years old
[13:50] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): and so on:))
[13:50] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): still wearing it
[13:50] Somedirtycat Saule: antic trousers can be sold for many dollaros :)
[13:50] herman Bergson: Ihave a cupboard here in the room that is from 1706....never wanted aew one :-))
[13:50] herman Bergson: a new
[13:50] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): if i set it for sale Saule, i have to were my underpants
[13:51] herman Bergson: So...time to conclude the session
[13:51] herman Bergson: Beertje!!
[13:51] Somedirtycat Saule: You can buy ten new one for the profit
[13:51] herman Bergson: No underpants selling in my class :-))
[13:51] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i want the old one:))
[13:51] Somedirtycat Saule: ^^
[13:51] herman Bergson: Thank you all again.....
[13:52] herman Bergson: Save your questions for the Tuesday class :-)
[13:52] bergfrau Apfelbaum: lol
[13:52] Max Chatnoir: Thank you, Herman. I think this is going to be interesting.
[13:52] bergfrau Apfelbaum: thank you Herman and class
[13:52] herman Bergson: Class dismissed.....
[13:52] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): thank you Herman
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