Karl Marx (1818-1883) was the most influential revolutionary socialist thinker of the 19th century. Marx’s key interests were in establishing a revolutionary party for the working classes and analysing capitalist society in order to find its strengths and weaknesses and so plan its demise. With his friend and colleague, Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), he created “The Communist Manifesto” in which they described the communist society which would be created as a result of the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalists by the working classes. This essay will discuss the view held by Marx and Engels with regard to religion and consider this perspective in its relevance to contemporary society. Although, in Marx and Engels’ opinion, religion is “the opium of the people” (Marx and Engels 1955:41-2), by this they did not only suggest that religion was an invention of the ruling classes to keep the working classes contented, they also considered the deeper implications of religion and that is the theme of this essay. Marx and Engels were in agreement with Feuerbach’s critique of Hegel and his belief that inversion and alienation were key concepts in the examination of religion and its power and said “to abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people is to demand their real happiness” (Marx, 1844). Marx disagreed with Hegel’s vague, conceptual world and the power which he saw as responsible for world developments. Marx instead believed that people created and recreated social worlds and as such were responsible for their creations. Inversion saw creative and independent humans becoming dependent on an imaginary God. People viewed God as responsible for their hardships, refusing to acknowledge that as God was a synthetic entity, m... ... middle of paper ... ...48/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm [Accessed 11 November 2011]. Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1845. The German Ideology . [online]. Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a2 [Accessed 11 November 2011]. Marx, K. Capital Volume One. 1867. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/mar x/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm [Accessed 10 November 2011]. Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1848. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm [Accessed 9 November 2011]. German Ideology. 1845. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a2 [Accessed 10 November 2011]. Marx, K. 1867.Capital Volume One.[online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm [Accessed 11 November 2011].
The fear of early twentieth century dystopian writers is the fear that people in general had in this era; what is the impact of communism or what the future of religion with evolution and Darwinism would be. The may concern was that if religion was obsolete, what would replace it as the moral compass of the people. One of the most important individuals of the early twentieth century Karl Marx had his own philosophy for a replacement. The role of religion in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is stated as,” But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis…’" (Marx 19) That new bases he mentioned in the quote is the state, the new morale code that society must follow.
First, I want to identify who Marx and Nietzsche are and their critiques on religion. Karl
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader . 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Marx predicted that religion would disappear as a phenomenon of false (because there is no God, according to Marx), and churches will become museums. All see how the number of churches in the world increases, a church becoming the heavy believers. However, the council rejected Marx, and yet kept his not believing in God.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Marx, Karl, and Freidrich Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. In Classics of Moral and Political Theory, edited by Michael L. Morgan, 1183-1202. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2011.
Where does religion come from? Many have tried to answer this question, only leaving us with more questions than answers. This essay will focus on two philosophers David Hume and Karl Marx both has strong critiques on the existence of God. Both going against the design argument, the design argument is the argument for the existence of God or single creator; however, with Hume’s empiricist and Marx's atheist they both attack the design argument in different ways, ultimately coming to the same conclusion and that is there is no God.
Marx, Karl. The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. New York: International Publishers, 1964. Print.
The German thinker, Karl Marx (1818-1883), wanted to understand and explain the changes that occurred in society at the time of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. (ibid) In 1843 Marx met Engels in Paris. It marked the beginning of a lifelong of friendship and professional collaboration. In 1848 Marx and Engels published “The Communist Manifesto”. The Manifesto outlined the struggles between classes. From then onwards it has become apparent that Marx was not an economist. His theories are a combination of economics, history, sociology and politics. Marx moved to London in 1849 where he spent the rest of his life.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Karl Marx, the preface, “a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,” written 1859, Progress Publisher, Moscow, Translated by S. W. Ryazanskaya 1999
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. 1st Signic Classic print. ed. New York, NY: Signic Classic, 1998.
Tucker, R. C. (1978). In “Wage Labor and Capital” in The Marx-Engels Reader. New York, NY:
Marx saw religion as an evil that existed in society and that it brought down all the people that believed in that religion. Marx said that, ?It [religion] is the opium of the people,?[1] and in saying this, Marx meant that religion was contagious on society. Once the society had a taste for the religion, they became totally engulfed it in, and then they do not want to get out of that way of live because they see it as a good way to live. Then even if people wanted to get out of the religion it was hard to get out because the whole society had already been infected by the ?opium.?
In discussing the similarities between Marx, Weber and Durkheim, it is important to understand what social order and social change are. Social order is the systems of social structures (relations, values and practice etc.) that maintain and enforce certain patterns of behaviour. Whereas, social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society, examples of such alterations can be changes in nature, social institutions, behaviours and/or social relations. (Bratton and Denham 2014) Throughout time, religion has always been a hot topic of controversy, whether it is based on being a part of the same religion, to having different religious views on life and how to live life. This is due in large to the ever changing views on religion and the way it can be practised. Religion can be viewed in both aspects of social order and social change because it is part of a system, however, alterations are frequently made. The three sociologists Marx, Weber and Durkheim have all expressed their views on religion with respect to society. Webers’ views show the effects