Marx and Kant: Key Concepts and Theories
Marx’s Philosophy
History of Marxism
- Left Hegelian
- Feuerbach – Defends materialism
- Utopian Socialism – Thinkers like Fourier, Owen, and others demanded social reforms that ended the exploitation of workers.
- Economists – British economic liberalism (e.g., A. Smith) considered the law of supply and demand as natural, justifying the capitalist system (Invisible Hand).
- Rousseau considered the natural equality of men, attributing the inequalities to social institutions.
Dialectical Materialism
Marx argues that matter, nature alone is real, and is a dynamic reality, which is transformed according to domestic laws that are dialectical (inspired by Hegel):
- Law of Unity and Opposition of Opposites: All reality is made of opposites that fight each other.
- Law of Qualitative Change: Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes of matter.
- Law of Negation of Negation: The contradictions are overcome in a new unit, the synthesis of the Hegelian scheme.
The materialism of Marx opposes Hegelian idealism and mechanical materialism.
Historical Materialism
Marx asserts that circumstances, not ideas, determine history. This theory is materialistic (matter are the relations of production of material goods) and dialectic (society is the result of the intervention in the history of the laws of dialectics).
At each stage of history, a mode of production is given, i.e., the sum of productive forces (labor and means of production) and a certain type of relations of production.
Marx examines the various historical modes of production (such as slavery, feudalism, or capitalism) and the dialectical movement of history. Applied to capitalism (thesis), private ownership of the means of production is the obstacle to the realization of the proletariat, not to be released without opposing capitalism. This tension (antithesis), which manifests itself in a class struggle, will emerge a new mode of production, communism (synthesis). The class struggle thus becomes the engine of history.
The ruling class uses the superstructure ideology extending to the whole society, which thus has a distorted view of reality, a false consciousness that justifies the privileges of the exploiting class.
Critique of Capitalist Society
In the capitalist mode of production, the worker is forced to sell their labor power in exchange for a salary, and the product of their work becomes a commodity, which has a real exchange value and market value. The difference between what the worker is paid for his work and what the product costs in the market generates a profit, surplus value, which remains in the hands of the capitalist. The worker feels a slave to his own products, alienated in their work.
Alienation and its Forms
This concept had already been taken into account by Hegel and Feuerbach. Marx applies it to a particular social class, the proletariat. When the worker sees work as outside of themself, there is an alienation, a dehumanization.
- Economic Alienation: The work is not creative but forced and repetitive, making the worker feel like a commodity of the capitalist.
- Social and Political Alienation: Due to the above, society is divided into classes.
- Religious Alienation: Religion provides comfort in this situation but slows social transformation: “the opium of the people.”
The Revolution of the Proletariat
Capitalism carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. Its internal logic will lead to constant crisis and accumulation of capital in few hands, causing discontent in the proletariat, and this tension will end in the revolution of the proletariat.
Stages of the Revolution of the Proletariat
- Dictatorship of the Proletariat (DOP): A phase transition in which the proletariat will control the state and take over the means of production from the bourgeoisie.
- Socialism: In this phase, social classes and private property are abolished.
- Communism: The final phase in which there are no classes or state.
Validity of Marx’s Thought
For some, it is outdated thinking, while for others, it is still necessary when considering the social inequalities generated by capitalism.
Glossary of Marx
Alienation: Commodification of the worker, that is not recognized in the product of their work and considers it alien to him. This alienation produces social and political alienation and religious.
Antithesis: Second moment of the dialectic. In the present phase is identified with the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Capitalism: Economic system based on private ownership of means of production.
Communism: Final phase of the revolutionary process taking place in the classless society.
Class Consciousness: Consciousness of the proletariat in their alienation and antagonistic relations with the bourgeoisie.
Dialectic: Challenging and overcoming opponents. Marx considers the nature and history is dialectical.
Ideology or False Consciousness: A set of ideas that form a distorted view of society that justifies the privileges of the ruling class.
Left Hegelian philosophical movement that interprets the thought of Hegel in a sense and anti immaterialist. Used the Hegelian dialectic to expose the contradictions of his society.
Class Struggle: Demonstration of the dialectical tension between productive forces and relations of production at each stage of history. For Marx is the engine of history.
Dialectical Materialism: The matter is all real and this matter is transformed according to some internal dialectical laws. He opposes the Hegelian idealism and mechanical materialism.
Historical Materialism: Interpretation of history according to which society is the result of the dialectical laws of history, expressed in the class struggle.
Praxis: Man’s productive activity. The social practice is the transformation of social reality. Is identified with the revolution.
Appreciation: Benefit to the employee’s work product generated in the market and remains in the hands of the capitalist without returning to the worker.
Relations of Production relations established among human beings and relationships, including ownership of the means of work.
Socialism: The second stage of the revolutionary process in which social classes disappear and private property.
Thesis: First moment of the dialectic. At the present stage of history, is identified with the capitalist mode of production.
Work: It is the essence of man, understood as a productive activity or praxis.
Value Exchange: The exchange value of an object depends on the working time required to produce and supply and demand.
Kant’s Philosophy
Kant believes that scientific knowledge is defined as being:
- Universal: Scientific statements are always true and apply to all individuals.
- Necessary: Scientific statements cannot be any other way, and to deny them is to fall into contradiction.
- Ampliative: The statements of science must expand knowledge.
Trials that meet these three conditions are synthetic judgments a priori.
Transcendental Aesthetic
It addresses the elements that exist in a priori sensitivity and while the conditions of possibility of objects. According to Kant, there are a priori forms of sensibility that are identified with space and time, which are responsible for reordering the data we obtain through the senses.
The presence of a priori elements leads to the existence of synthetic judgments a priori, leading to geometry (the science of space; its judgments are universal) and mathematics (based on intuition is temporary).
Transcendental Logic: Analytical Transcendental
Transcendental analytics is the study of the concepts that structure understanding. The task of understanding is to synthesize, from concepts, visual sensitivity obtained.
Kant focuses on the pure concepts, which he called categories, which are a priori forms of understanding that allow us to think about sensible intuitions. Any other use of them is illegitimate and leads to mistakes. To which by definition transcends the experience, you cannot apply any more (as the existence of God).
The outcome of the process of sensing a reality is the phenomenon. The reality before the human form of knowing is the noumenon.
Transcendental Logic: Transcendental Dialectic
In Kant’s transcendental dialectic, he shows that metaphysics is not a science. This ability is what allows humans to investigate the causes and basis of all reality.
You cannot set a priori synthetic judgments about the soul, the world, or God because they are ideas of reason that transcend the world of phenomena. Kant does not deny its existence but merely points out that you cannot prove that these ideas exist because they are phenomena.