Comparing Communist Manifesto And Charles Darwin's Descent Of Man

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Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man are two revolutionary pieces of literature that challenged the pre-existing notions and gave rise to a great deal of intellectual thought. Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to introduce the concept of communism and highlight the flaws of a capitalistic, bourgeois-run government. The Manifesto essentially empowered the proletariat (working class) to rebel against the capitalistic economic system in order to achieve the communistic ideals of social equality. Darwin’s Descent of Man, on the other hand, presents the fundamental evolutionary concept which, based on scientific evidence, emphasizes the concept of descent with modification in regard to the development of man. Marx describes an inner class conflict; the working class must compete with each other to supply the bourgeois with revenue earned through their labor, otherwise known as …show more content…

Darwin writes that biologically, man must compete in order to survive. If we equate conflict with competition, we can view competition as a type of conflict among the proletariat in the context of Marx and as a biological conflict in the context of Darwin. In terms of progress, Marx considers progress to be the drive to the eliminate social hierarchy. Darwin considers progress to be the development of man for the sake of its betterment. However, we need to also reconsider the goal of the Manifesto: to establish a society in which everyone is of equal social status, implying the elimination of conflict. Therefore, while trying to understand if humans can progress in the absence of conflict, Darwin’s notions of progress should be taken strongly into consideration because they are grounded in evidence and constantly reaffirm progress as a by-product of conflict, while Marx stands firm on the belief that a society can thrive without

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