Biography of Karl Marx
Karl Marx was a professional intellectual and philosopher. Throughout Marx's life, chance meetings with other professional intellectuals and philosophers helped guide Marx to his final destination. Although Marx died in March of 1883, some 122 years ago, his theories are still being studied, and in some cases, used in some governments. In his lifetime Marx explored many different social settings and groups. His final accumulation of work can be found in his Communist Manifesto, which he co-authored with Fredrick Engels. Although very meager at times, Marx lived an extraordinary life.
Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 in Trier Rheinish Prussia (Germany). Although his family was ultimately Jewish, Karl's father, Hirschel Marx, changed the family's religion to Protestant to avoid anti-Semitism. Later, to avoid further persecution, Hirschel changed his name to Heinrich 1. Young Karl was raised mostly in Prussia. Once he had graduated from the Gymnasium, today's equivalent of high school, Marx entered Bonn University to continue his education and follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer. While at Bonn, Karl spent much of his time socializing and running up large debts. Karl was once wounded during a duel, because a debt collector2.
After hearing about Karl's attitude towards higher education, Heinrich paid off his son's depts. However the injury involving the duel made Heinrich insist that Karl no longer attend Bonn, but instead move to Berlin and attend the University of Berlin. While in Berlin, Karl met a lecturer named Bruno Bauer. While under Bauer's influence, Marx was introduced to the writings of G.W.F. Hegel, whom had been a fellow lectur...
... middle of paper ...
...y his wife's passing, Marx needed his eldest daughter, Eleanor, to take care of him. In January 1883 Eleanor herself passed away due to cancer of the liver. Marx, left to take care of himself, died three months later in March of 1883. Although Marx and his wife were separated by death for over two years, they now lay side by side at Highgate Cemetery in London.
Notes
1 Frank E. Manuel, A Requiem for Karl Marx (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995)
12
2 V.I. Lenin, The Marxists Internet Archive, 16 September 1999,
<http://www.marxists.org> (9 March 2002)
3 Spartacus Educational, 3 March 2002
<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Tumarx.htm> (9 March 2002)
4 Richard P. Appelbaum, Karl Marx Vol. 7 of Masters of Social Theory (Newbury Park:
SAGE Publications, 1988)
5 Appelbaum, 21
6 Manuel, 35
7 Manuel, 37
9. Hoselitz, Ben F. "Karl Marx on Secular and Social Development: A Study in the
Karl Marx is most often recognized as a radical who wanted to overthrow capitalism. Marx’s ideals came about at the start of the English Industrial Revolution and many believe that he was an evil radical who did not contribute to society. Marx’s most important contribution, however, was his analysis and critique of capitalism. Karl Marx was a man seeking justice, even though he ultimately created chaos in the process. He believed that in order to understand a society we must understand the society’s industry and structure of employment. In other words, Marx believed that all aspects of any society grew out of its economic base.
Karl Marx was a German/Prussian philosopher, economist, sociologist, author, and revolutionary socialist. His economic ideas were the basis for communism, which can be seen around the world today. Marx was very popular due to his predictions of the fall of capitalism and the rise of the working class via revolution presented in his book, Communist Manifesto, written in 1848. Marx was very committed to his idea that history has always been affected by class struggles, which he touches base on in his book. His ideas are often found very controversial, and in Communist Manifesto, there is a lot to make controversy about.
Karl Marx’s was a German philosopher, economist and evolutionary socialist born in Germany on May 5th 1818. His theories mostly consisted of the capitalist economic system. Marx’s attended the University of Bonn and University of Berlin. He is widely recognized for his theory of on the class system which included the concepts of base and super-structure. Marx’s theory of the class system is well exhibited by the documentary film, Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class.
A small historical background on Marx is beneficial to understanding the views he holds. Marx was born in 1818 during the destabilizing effects of Industrial Revolution and by the ideological and political forces unleashed by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. His commitment to radical social change and atheism were still unpopular to the authorities of his home, Trier, Prussia. Marx then moved to France, where he married his childhood friend, Jenny von Westphalen, daughter to ...
Karl Marx was a German philosopher who studies at the university of berlin. He was a Hegelian. He was very active in the political scene, thus springing his desire to combined philosophy, political science and economics. Marx believes that we are the product of our environments but we also have the power to change our environment. He believed that human beings can shape the environment that we live in through our abilities. He also believes that philosophers should not only interoperate the world, but they should be able to change it (Citation). Marx believed that history is all based class conflicts. He uses the example of the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie is the oppressive class, they consist of the rich, upper class,
Up until the age of twelve, Marx was educated at home, most likely from his mother. From 1830 to 1835, Marx attended the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium, which was the Jesuit high school located in Trier. He was classically educated in subjects such as history, mathematics, literature and other languages. Marx learned to fluently read and write in French and Latin. As an advanced scholar he continued to learn by teaching himself to read English, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Scandinavian and Dutch. Although he could articulate the English language relatively well, Marx never lost his thick German accent. In an attempt to fulfill his father’s desire that he become a lawyer and follow in his footsteps, Marx began studying law at the University of Bonn inn1835. His stay was short-lived due to unsatisfactory behavior according to his father. Marx was frequently disturbing the peace, was rebellious, was imprisoned for being intoxicated and got into physical altercations with other cohorts. In 1836 his father enrolled him in the University of Berlin. He remained more grounded and focused while studying both law and philosophy. Marx then received a doctorate from the University of Jena in 1841. His aspirations of becoming a professor were put to an end because of his radical political views and he had trouble securing a steady
Karl Marx was an idealist. He observed the cruelties and injustices that the poor working class endured during the period of industrial revolution, and was inspired to write of a society in which no oppression existed for any class of people. Marx believed in a revolution that would end socialism and capitalism, and focus on communist principles. The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx, describes the goals of the communist party for ending exploitation of the working class and creating a society in which there is equality without social classes. As a historian, philosopher, and revolutionary, Marx has helped shaped the society of the past, present and future. He is known for being a liberal reformist who believed that capitalism could be reformed and inequality of the working classes could be addressed and abolished. I agree with Marx?s view points and feel he is a man that has achieved many great experiences throughout his lifetime for which he is remembered.
Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in Trier, Prussia. A well-known philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary that studied law at the University of Bonn. He then switched to philosophy and continued education at Berlin. Together with Friedrich Engels, Marx produced some of his major works ‘The German Ideology’ (1846), ‘The Communist Manifesto’ (1848), and ‘Das Capital’ (1867). Das Capital remains to be Marx’s greatest achievement, a powerful insight that
Karl Marx (1818-1883) is a German philosopher and revolutionary socialist. Karl Marx born in Prussia on May 5, 1818. He began exploring sociopolitical theories at university among the Young Hegelians after that he became a journalist and his socialist writings expelled him from Germany and France. In 1848, he published The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels and then he was exiled to London, where he wrote his first volume of Das Kapital.
Karl Marx is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. Marx went to the University Of Berlin where he abandoned his ideas od romanticism for Hegelianism. Which is a philosophy based upon the ideas of G.W.F Hegel who believed that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational categories. Marx then became a member of the Hegelian movement before becoming a Journalist and editor for the prestigious newspaper, "Rheinische Zeitung". Marx articles revealed his ideas on economics this forced the Prussian government to close the paper. Marx then went to Paris in 1843 where he began to combine the ideologies of french socialism and German radical Hegelians. He then began his important works od the manuscripts detailing his humanist concept of
Welcome to CHSBS! | Central Michigan University. Karl Marx. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/fattah/COURSES/modernthought/marx.htm
Born in Trier, Prussia to Heinrich and Henriette Marx on May 5, 1818, Karl Marx would grow up to become a radical thinker, revolutionary, and a disciple of sociology, whose ideas would influence the world long after his death (Steven Kreis, 2008). Marx’s first experience with radical thinking would be during his study at the University of Berlin as a member of the Young Hegelians, a group whose critique of Christianity was seen as controversial at the time (Kreis, 2008). After obtaining his PhD in philosophy from the University of Jena, he turned to journalism, becoming the editor of Rheinische Zeitung, where we wrote several increasingly revolutionary works that was “suppressed for its derisive social and political content” (Janet Beales Kaidantzis, n.d). Marx emigrated to France and forged a life-long friendship with Friedrich Engels as well as becoming the co-editor of another leftist radical newspaper, the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (Kries, 2008). While in Paris and having been influenced previously by his work for the newspaper in Prussia, Marx started to develop and theorize his ideas of communism, detailing the economic ideas of “Marxism” and publishing several essays, papers, and manuscripts such as the The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (Jonathan Wolff, 2011). During the storm of protests, rebellions, and revolutions sweeping through Europe at the time, Marx published multiple works and books of which the most famous is the Communist Manifesto, “his most widely read work” before settling down in London, England in 1849 (Wolff, 2011). As stated on the University of Sanford’s webpage on Marx (Wolff, 2011), “He now concentrated on the study of economics,” detailing ideas and works where he “sketches out what he...
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.
On May 5th, 1818, in Trier, Karl Marx was born of Heinrich and Henrietta Marx in the German Rhineland. Studies say that Karl’s family was of a large size, consisting of about four children: Karl, Sophie, Emilie, and Luise. His mother, whom belonged to a family of Hungarian Jews, died in 1863,yet was always considered to be a lovely wife and mother. The Jewish blood that ran through the family ultimately impacted Karl’s fate. When Karl was six years old, he adopted Christianity because at the time it was considered as an act of civilized progress. His father, a highly educated lawyer whom admired eighteenth century literature (of the French Enlightenment), was a “Prussian patriot” and a Jewish believer. Karl and his father held a personal relationship, to which they enjoyed a close friendship. His father did indeed influence him greatly, but Karl “did not believe in the power of rational argument to influence action,” (2) as did his father.