Marx, Nietzsche, and Philosophical Concepts
Marx’s Humanism
Theory of Alienation
Humanism: Man is essentially a producer, a worker. Man transforms nature, humanizing it and himself. Objectification is natural to man; lack of objectivity leads to lack of realization. Man is a social being, coinciding with humanity, held socially. Man is a historical being, made dialectically through history.
Alienation: Losing our essence as human beings. Types include alienation from the product of work, the activity of work, nature, and other men.
Historical Materialism
Concept
Marxist theory on world history explaining modes of production.
Forces and Relations of Production
Forces of production drive economic activity. Social relations arise from these forces, determined by economic activity.
Historical Modes of Production
- Asia: Village operator-exploited people
- Ancient Greece and Rome: Master-slave
- Feudal Middle Ages: Master-serf
- Capitalist: Bourgeois capitalist-proletarian
Critiques
Capitalism leads to capital concentration, class consciousness, and exploitation of labor.
Nietzsche’s Philosophy
Apollonian and Dionysian
Characteristics: Dionysian represents life, instinct, and harmony with nature. Apollonian represents reason, balance, and masking reality.
Socrates and Plato favored the Apollonian, leading to decline. Nietzsche championed the Dionysian.
Wagner’s musical drama expresses the Dionysian spirit.
Nihilism, Will to Power, and Death of God
Nihilism: Absence of values and goals. Negative nihilism destroys old values. Positive nihilism builds new ones.
Will to Power: Domain, strength, and vital power. Opposes equality, favors hierarchy.
Death of God: Metaphor for the loss of absolute ideas and ideals.
Morals of Slaves and Gentlemen
Master Morality: Active, individualistic, instinctual, life-affirming.
Slave Morality: Passive, reactive, reason-based, life-denying.
Jews inverted aristocratic values, leading to slave morality.
Superman
Characteristics: Embraces bodily life, power, and rebellion. Transcends good and evil. True to the earth, rejects God and metaphysics. Experiences eternal return.
Transformation: Camel (obedience), Lion (rebellion), Child (creation of new values).