Marxism: Class Struggle, Alienation, and Capitalism
Class Struggle and Capitalism
Marxism posits that the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes have antagonistic, or contrary, interests. Marx believed that the essence of humanity lies in labor, through which individuals create and transform their world. However, capitalism has transformed work into a commodity to be bought and sold.
In a pre-capitalist artisan economy, the worker owned the goods produced, and the wealth generated from their sale belonged entirely to them. With industrialization, significant
Read MoreSaint Augustine’s Philosophy: Understanding God and Humanity
Platonic Influences and Christian Theology
Saint Augustine’s methodology is based on Plato’s ideas, but reconciled with Christianity, particularly in relation to God. Augustine did not believe that ideas existed separately; he posited that they must be someone’s idea, as they are not substances. Therefore, ideas can only exist in the mind of God. God is not limited to ordering anything; He created because the ideas are in His mind. This concept replaces Plato’s Demiurge. Augustine also replaced the
Read MoreSaint Augustine: God, Creation, Knowledge, and the Soul
The Philosophical Attitude of Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine’s major concerns are God and the soul, believing that man has the will to reach God. When he speaks of Christian truth, Saint Augustine makes no question of the relationship between reason and faith, which are sources of true knowledge—separate but complementary and mutually supportive.
God
There are two issues to address:
- The Existence of God: There are several arguments for God’s existence:
- The order and beauty of the world.
- The existence
Kant’s Critique: Limits of Rational Knowledge and Metaphysics
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
Kant devoted his major work, Critique of Pure Reason, to resolving the question of the limits of rational knowledge of reality. The problem was that metaphysics did not progress, unlike other sciences. The importance of these issues prevents us from dismissing its study due to this initial difficulty. The strategy: identify the conditions that enable mathematics and physics to be sciences, and then check whether metaphysics meets those conditions.
1 – Classification
Read MoreSt. Augustine’s Philosophy: Reason, Faith, and the City of God
St. Augustine’s Philosophy
Reason and Faith
For Augustine, human beings yearn for happiness and the supreme good, which he identified with God. However, the enjoyment of happiness requires knowledge of the truth, and this can be sought in two ways: by reason and faith. These two are not incompatible; rather, they should work together. Faith directs our intelligence in the search for truth, and reason can understand the contents of faith, which is supported by our intelligence.
Knowledge of God and
Read MorePlato’s Theory of Ideas, Soul, and the Philosopher-Ruler
Plato’s Theory of Ideas
I start my presentation discussing the theory of Ideas, as the application of this triggers a major role in justice and policy. Plato’s theory of Ideas is given because Plato, trying to parse reality, realizes that all objects are constantly changing. Then how is it possible to extract knowledge of a reality subject to motion and change? Plato’s predecessors were wondering the same, worse came to radical positions.
Plato, influenced by these philosophers, accepts some things
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