Questions tagged [marxism]
128
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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 ...
8
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1
answer
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Where exactly did the conceptual distinction between "personal property" and "private property" originate?
In popular online discussions of socialism, anarchism and/or Marxism a distinction is often made between "personal property" (possessions used by individuals for personal consumption) and &...
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Would an universal basic income eliminate exploitation (a la Marx) in capitalism?
Marx's argument in the theory of exploitation is that capitalists do not need to sell their labour power in the market in order to live, whereas workers need to do so. As such, workers are not really "...
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What's the difference between the "hermeneutics of suspicion" and conspiracy theory?
The term "conspiracy theory" was invented by Karl Popper as a way to describe Marxist theories of history as a collusion of the bourgeoise class against the working class. So, as far as I can tell, ...
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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 ...
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What other defects did Marx think there was to hitherto existing materialism?
The chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism – that of
Feuerbach included – is that the thing, reality, sensuousness, is
conceived only in the form of the object.
Does Marx allege any other ...
0
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1
answer
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Under Marx's Labour Theory of Value, does the amount of utility in use-value affect the value?
Under Marx's LTV, the existence of value relies on use-value, as the commodity which has the value isn't a commodity without the use-value (tangible features of the commodity which give it utility). ...
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1
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Can the capitalist class realise they are alienated?
I was taught that even the most self interested bourgeois is alienated, I think due to having to continually invest capital in competition with other capitalists. As so called state capitalism seems ...
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Historically, what comes after Capitalism according to Marxist thinking?
Here I understand Capitalism as the current mode of production where social production is based fundamentally in the exchange of commodities.
From the history of society we can understand one simple ...
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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 ...
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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
...
3
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2
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134
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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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856
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What does Marx mean in the quote from the bible?
The social revolution of the nineteenth century cannot take its poetry
from the past but only from the future. It cannot begin with itself
before it has stripped away all superstition about the ...
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0
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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 ...
2
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2
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349
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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 ...
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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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6
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Is the "Continental Philosophy" dependent on Marxism?
I saw this:
Why is Ayn Rand's Objectivism philosophy dismissed by academics?
"However, her well-documented ideological struggle against Marxism undermines her own argument again here; the Marxist ...
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3
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Is large scale strike action an essential element of Marxism?
Is large scale strike action an essential element of Marxism?
I'm asking because something significant and unforeseen has to occur, I think, to make that at all possible.
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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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Who are the most prominent post-Marx thinkers within Marxism?
I'm becoming more interested in Marxism, and the ensuing economies that attempted to use Marxist thought. What I wonder is, which post-Marx, modern thinkers have most successfully built on Marxist ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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4
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589
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Marxism - primary contradiction of capitalism
After writing a long post, i decided to keep only the summary :
I understand that in the marxist framework a mode of production is constituted by :
the relations of production
the productive forces
...
1
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1
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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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3
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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 ...
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697
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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 ...
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Was Marx an antisemite?
Marx wrote about Jews quite a bit, despite having Jewish blood or ancestors.
Was Marx an antisemite?
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90
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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 ...
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6
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How can land and natural resources become “private property”?
I’ve been trying to understand how an anarchic society would be initiated, but the two main ideas- anarcho-communism and anarcho-capitalism- not only contradict each other, but seem to be riddled with ...
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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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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 ...
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Is there a philosophical basis for the conflation of the cultural left and the economic/fiscal left?
In the U.S and most of the West, the cultural left (used loosely to include movements like feminism, secularism, being pro-diversity and pro minority-rights, the LGBTQ movement, being pro-immigration, ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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229
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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 ...
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What would Marx say about liberal identity politics?
As far as I know the main post-Marxist criticism of identity politics is that it is divisive, and so prevents the association of the proletariat.
This seems to me to not take liberalism seriously ...
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4
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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 ...
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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 ...
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4
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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 ...
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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, ...
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What did Marx mean by "revolutionary terror"?
there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old
society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be
shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is ...
3
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2
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646
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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 ...
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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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Existentialism and the absensce of free will
One of the most famous doctrines of existentialism formulated by Jean Paul Sartre is that we are absolutely free.
Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible ...
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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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What is an example of human labour being the exclusive source of surplus value
Marx's labour theory seems to define surplus value as being produced exclusively from human labour. One discussion of this concept stated:
Machinery, and tools of production do not create surplus ...
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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 ...
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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 ...