Questions tagged [marxism]

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Marx' contribution to philosophy [closed]

Has Marx made important contributions to philosophy? What are these? I would like to specify that I mean philosophy as understood today, or for the purposes of this community - rather than political ...
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Would Karl Marx have been for or against workers having the choice to work from home?

I have been wondering lately if Karl Marx would have been for or against workers having the choice to work from home. I only have a general knowledge of who Karl Marx was and about his overall ...
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What is Lenin saying about "republican slogans" in 'The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination'

The fact that the struggle for national liberation against one imperialist power may, under certain circumstances, be utilized by another “Great” Power in its equally imperialist interests should have ...
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3 votes
2 answers
125 views

Are the interests of every bourgeois person (not just the class in general) against the working class?

Are the interests of every bourgeois person (not just the class in general) always against those of the working class? I'm just intrigued whether a socialist bourgeois is necessary acting against ...
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How essential is the war against nature for Maoism?

Under Mao, the traditional Chinese ideal of 'harmony between heaven and humans' [and Marx's theory of “metabolic rift” in capitalism] was abrogated in favor of Mao's insistence that 'People Will ...
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2 votes
6 answers
210 views

If history was not the history of class struggle, before Marx, was Marx wrong?

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Can this be the case only after The Communist Manifesto? Could - in principle - Marx have changed "history" - ...
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15 votes
9 answers
6k views

Do decolonialists have to attack science and modernity?

I’m a professional scientist (mathematician, actually). I’m not a philosopher. I’ve got a lot of friends well-versed in philosophy, and they all seem to point toward modernity as a byproduct of ...
Simón Flavio Ibañez's user avatar
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Is there a term that extends the Real Subsumption of Labour to society as a whole?

I am currently doing some research on Marx's concept of Real Subsumption of Labour, which refers to the process of capitalist production transforming from a formal subsumption (using pre-existing ...
cricket900's user avatar
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2 answers
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Is there any historical evidence for Marx being a Satanist? [closed]

I recently read a controversial book by Richard Wurmbrand called "Was Karl Marx a Satanist?", and I found it very thought provoking. There are many historical facts that indicate that Marx ...
Dennis Kozevnikoff's user avatar
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1 answer
94 views

Who said sth like "Marxism could be said to be true, even if its specific predictions were falsified"

I'm trying to track down a remark I remember reading in college, I think made by some early to mid 20th century French Marxist, to the effect of "Marxism could be said to be true, even if its ...
Once a Philosopher's user avatar
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What is the debate between Zizek (Hegelians) and Judith Butler (Postmodernists)?

He accuses them of promoting spurious infinities with his example of the + in LGBTQ+ and takes issue with contradiction being ontological. I wish to understand this more.
Ash Rivers's user avatar
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How does Bergson's philosophy relate to Sorel's brand of Marxism?

Apart from Reflections on Violence, I am unfamiliar with Georges Sorel's writings, and I have done only very limited reading on Bergson and Bergsonianism. I understand that Bergson is among the main ...
Nelson Alexander's user avatar
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2 answers
176 views

What do Marx and Marxists say about the role of bureaucracy in socialism?

By bureaucracy, I mean that important state decisions are made by officials elected at best by their own party. Does Marx approve of this? Do any Marxists not approve of it?
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Do different subjects experience the "economic base" of capitalism in different ways?

History, for Althusser, is a process without a subject. Does that mean that, For Althusser, subjects do not experience the base in different way, and it's more like a brute fact about the world? In ...
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1 vote
3 answers
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Looking for Marxist or Frankfurt-style critiques of advertising

There is undoubtedly a great deal of cultural criticism of advertising, but I'm looking for a certain angle on the topic. For Marx, the commodity is the primary "atom" of capitalist society ...
Nelson Alexander's user avatar
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On Marx's theory of human nature

Does anyone have resources on Marx's theory of human nature (or 'species-essence' as he refers to it). I understand that he refers to human nature as the totality of social relations. But where does ...
Ericleast992's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
144 views

How labour is more concrete that it became essence of humanity according to Marx?

Marx considered labour as essence of humans that makes us different to other animals. But how is it more concrete than other things ? Isn't it labour situational, I mean something that forcefully to ...
Schnoz's user avatar
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Dialectics and postmodernism as competing attacks on liberalism

I recently posted an inquiry over the attitude of Hegelian and Marxist dialectics toward Enlightenment liberalism. A comment mentioned postmodernism as an example of a tradition more plainly ...
brainchild's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
389 views

What is the precise meaning of this sentence in the context of Marxism?

In the following text, what is the highlighted sentence meant to say? Why does the author say that? Clearly put, I don’t understand the conditional here. If such limits doesn’t exist, then it would be ...
Sasan's user avatar
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2 answers
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What is the difference between Subaltern and any other oppressed group?

This is in the context of deconstructionist Marxist Gayatri Spivak's reply to Foucualt and Deleuze and defense of Marx in her famous work Can The Subaltern Speak ? Are the subaltern just uneducated ...
Ash Rivers's user avatar
3 votes
5 answers
580 views

A different kind of ideology somewhat between capitalism and communism

I was wondering in the past couple of days about an idea, and I'd like to know your opinion on it. From a strictly moral point of view, the ideal communist society is pretty utopic. Equality, equal ...
Marcus Rost's user avatar
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1 answer
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How and who rebuilds the state after a revolution?

How and who rebuilds the state after a revolution? I frequent "revolutionary" discussion, and am surprised (almost afraid) by how little this comes up. They all want to smash the existing ...
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4 answers
298 views

Help understanding Marxist critique of capitalism

According to the Wikipedia page on Marxist economics, one criticism Marx had of capitalism is that the capitalist model of employment creates a difference between the value the workers create and the ...
Joa's user avatar
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2 votes
8 answers
303 views

Is the extraction of surplus value sufficient for the necessity of revolution?

Is the extraction of surplus value sufficient for the necessity of revolution? As I understand it, the extraction of surplus value is: the essential component of the "immiseration" of the ...
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1 answer
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What does Gramsci mean by "leaders of the II and II-~"?

A friend of mine who has been reading Antonio Gramsci's Selection from Prison Notebooks is struggling to find out what II-~ means in the following paragraph: "If there are still people at the ...
M.N's user avatar
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4 answers
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Fredric Jameson's "Dialectical Sentences"

Fredric Jameson is one of the few hard line Marxists in America today. He writes extensively on topics about capitalism, postmodernity, etc, all through the lens of Hegelian/Marxist dialectics, which ...
John Smith's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
207 views

What comes after capitalism?

Many social philosophers have expressed a desire to end capitalism as the dominant mode of production. However, I take it as an unavoidable fact of nature that labor of some form is necessary. Humans, ...
Joa's user avatar
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Is this a point of contact between Marxism and Heidegger?

Is this a point of contact between Marxism and Heidegger? Marx complains (bitterly) about exploitation by your - class - enemies Heidegger complains about inauthenticity, which I might gloss as ...
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3 votes
1 answer
207 views

Does Marx make a metaphysical/ontological argument for Materialism anywhere?

As I understand it currently, I read Marx as more of a historian, economist and sociologist and I am finding it hard to locate any metaphysical argument against Hegel's 'idealism'. All I know is this ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
268 views

Questions about Marx's second, third, and fourth thesis in ''Theses on Feuerbach''

The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question. a. What does Marx mean here by ”objective truth,” what is he alluding ...
cricket900's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
287 views

What's the importance that Marx gives to the Class Struggle for the devolopment of societies?

I've reading The Communist Manifesto and I could understand that all changes in the human history societies have been because the struggle of class. but what is his argument? I can't understands his ...
Richard Kingston's user avatar
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1 answer
482 views

Question about Marx´s book (German Ideology)

In 'The German Ideology' Marx claims that in his materialist conception of history 'ascends from earth to heaven', unlike the German philosophy of the time that 'descends from heaven to earth'. What ...
Kreux  Schruytz's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
117 views

Under what conditions is work alienated?

Why, for Marx, is alienation a condition of work under capitalism? I´ve been reading Marx's texts and I don't understand why.
Kreux  Schruytz's user avatar
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1 answer
176 views

Dialectics and Machiavelli

What is the relation between Marxist dialectics and Machiavelli's philosophy? I have read Lefort, and he seems good, but I was unsure if he was an academic playing games.
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2 votes
3 answers
135 views

Are social crises good for the bourgeoisie, according to Marx?

Are social crises good for the bourgeoisie, according to Marx? Clearly social crises can be bad for the working class. For example, the world wars were bad and count as 'social crises', but they may ...
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0 votes
1 answer
99 views

Translation of Lenin's "Materialism and Empirio-Criticism"

What is the best translation of Lenin's Materialism and Empirio-criticism (Материализм и эмпириокритицизм) into English (or perhaps other wide-spread languages)? I would like to have the closest there ...
lfba's user avatar
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2 answers
226 views

Would Marx have seen Socialism as a stage in a historical process towards Communism?

I have the impression from my (limited, autodidactic) reading of Marx that he was antagonistic towards various forms of Socialism, criticizing Socialists for being (among other things) piecemeal ...
Kev Sepia's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
103 views

Can anyone explain the meaning of "Hegelian Essence"

I've been reading Terry Eagleton's Marxist critique of the bronte's and Eagleton writes that Catherine "reifies Heathcliff to a Hegelian essence, sublimely untainted by empirical fact". I can't seem ...
Cart0grapher's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
119 views

Does anyone claim that all alienation is fetishism for Marx?

rather than equating alienation and fetishism, fetishism is better thought of as a particular form that alienation might take. (To be clear, there looks to be no reason to think that Marx would, ...
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1 vote
0 answers
51 views

Does Jameson define "narrative" anywhere?

Does Jameson define "narrative" anywhere? I've read the political unconscious, and just ordered a study of him, and I would probably agree that narratives embody social reality, but am unclear what ...
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2 votes
1 answer
496 views

Meaning of a diagram by Althusser

A diagram by Althusser captioned “The future lasts a long time” (the title of his memoirs) appears on several of his book covers. Below is my own reproduction, based on a sketched version found here. ...
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1 answer
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Henry George vs. Karl Marx

I recently came across some of Marx's critique of Georgism, and was wondering where else the theories of these two thinkers conflict. Georgism to me certainly seems to have a slight materialist bent ...
october's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
164 views

Is there any new concept in Marxism that didn't exist in classical economics?

Surplus value is just economic profit. The organic composition of capital is just the investment rate. Capitalist mode of production is just a verbose way of saying capitalism. Exchange value is price....
user42363's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
213 views

What does object oriented philosophy say about commodity fetishism?

What does object oriented philosophy say about commodity fetishism? I thought the essence of fetishism was how, in his alienation from the means of production, what we are and make seems to become ...
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1 vote
1 answer
141 views

What do Marxists make of contemporary technophobia?

What would Marxists make of contemporary luddism, technophobia, etc.? In 1867, Karl Marx wrote that it would be some time before workers were able to distinguish between the machines and "the ...
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-1 votes
2 answers
208 views

Is the internet a commodity in the Marxist sense?

Is the internet a commodity in the Marxist sense? It may help to know if it's made, bought and sold. Can people own more or less of the internet, and in what ways?
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2 votes
0 answers
81 views

Should Bergson be described as an individualist?

It's claimed that Bergson's "intuition of pure duration" is the "highest and most valuable form of human experience": is this an individualist or collectivist good? I'm asking because I'm interested ...
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3 votes
3 answers
197 views

The Effects of Marx's Moral Character on Communism

I recently read Paul Johnson's "Intellectuals" which includes a scourging critique of Karl Marx and his work. Surprisingly, it focused on Marx's own personality along with his many vices, ...
Mike M's user avatar
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2 answers
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Was Marx a Marxist?

In his writings, did Marx only seek to explain the social and economic transformation precipitated by the rise of capitalism as well as offer some forecast for the future or did he actively also ...
amphibient's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
106 views

Might Marx's argument in Das Kapital be less about justice and exploitation than it is about disenfranchisment?

Might Marx's argument in Das Kapital be less about justice and exploitation than it is about disenfranchisment? I specifically mean his analysis of work, the falling rate of profit, and movement of '...
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