Marxs Argument about Capitalism and His Theory of Human Nature - Essay Example

Explicate Marx’s Argument That Capitalism Is Not Fit for Human Consumption. How Does This Argument Relate To His Theory of Human Nature and the Concept of Alienation? By [Name of Student] [Name of Institution] 2212 Words [Date] Introduction Capitalism, alienation, and human nature are some of the many social, economical and philosophical issues that Karl Marx worked on in his lifetime. In his economic-related thoughts and writings, he asserted that capitalism was not fit for human consumption mainly because it had consistently failed to offer most human beings enough materials with which they could live a good and dignified life. In fact, according to Karl Marx, capitalism stratified society and only satisfied the greed of a few billionaires and politicians with failed policies. Marx thus felt that changing the world for the betterment of all humanity would merely require the reformation of the excesses and failures of capitalism and the bad elements in society (Singer 2000, p. 36). On the contrary, it is the bad consequence of capitalism such as poverty and inequality that have ensured life continues to be unbearable for the working class, the poor and other vulnerable people in society (Wolff 2002, p. 113). One of Marx’s most outstanding works on capitalism, written together with a Friedrich Engels was the Communist Manifesto, a pamphlet that has quite influential even in contemporary times. This paper explores Karl Marx’s arguments about capitalism and relates these arguments to his theories on alienation and human nature. Karl Marx on Capitalism Marx’s ideas on capitalism and globalization are largely appreciated and acknowledged even in current times, many years after he first published his works. In fact, even modern day capitalists concur that Marx was mostly right about capitalism. However, questions continue to be asked whether Marx’s ideas could be outmoded and irrelevant to the current world’s economic and social situations. As a matter of fact, many a scholar agrees that Marx’s ideas and theories on capitalism, human nature and alienation are as relevant today as they were during his times. In recent times, there have been increased attempts by many scholars, especially philosophers, sociologists and economists, to reassess Marx’s ideas and theories on capitalism. The driving force behind these attempts is the international economic crisis associated with capitalism. According to some of these reassessments of Marx’s theories on capitalism, capitalism will continue to create a cycle of economic depressions due to cycles of overcapacity and overproduction problems (Seigel 1978, p. 19). Capitalist Reasons for Economic Crises Marx’s argument that capitalism is unfit for human consumption is supported by the belief that capitalism is to blame for the economic recessions the world has faced on recent times. His initial descriptions of capitalism have been cited as the reasons for past and the current capitalism-related economic crises. First among these reasons is the antagonism between the social and collective production on one side and the privately owned means of production on the other. The second reason is the opposition between the world market and state limitations to production. Marx also lamented that capitalism only targets profits and not social needs and exploits the working class that creates new values of which the capitalist enjoys the bigger portion while the worker only receives wages. In fact, in some instances, the situation gets so bad that the working class may not afford to buy the goods it produces. Despite the fact that capitalists always reinvest these increased earnings back into the industry, it only yields more profits for them, in the processing making capitalist problems such as overcapacity and overproduction go in circles (Ernie 2004, p. 216). Capitalism and Human Nature The other of Marx’s works that closely relates to his ideas on capitalism is his theory of human nature, in which he criticises capitalism and its elements. The major concepts covered in Marx’s theory of human nature were his perceptions of communism and his materialist conception of history. In this theory, Marx asserted that the human nature makes it possible for people to make and shape their lives and nature but only to a given extent. In this definition and description of human nature, Marx largely borrowed from Ludwig Feuerbach’s philosophical works, which covered humanity as a whole and the nature of each human being in particular. However, in some of his works on the nature of human, Marx disagreed with Feuerbach in some of his philosophies on the nature of human. For instance, Marx believed that the nature of human should not be considered in the form of each individual; rather, it should be defined on the totality of human’s social relations. In other words, Marx’s theory on human nature supports his stance against capitalism, emphasizing that the species-being should be determined and defined fully in its social, historical, cultural, economic and biological aspects. Thus, according to Marx, the human nature entails more than social relations, which are therefore not the only determinants of human nature. Marx’s thus argued against an intangible conception of human nature and offers an approach to discussing human nature on the basis of sensuous life. Marx also stated that individuals are what and how they express their lives. Accordingly, what individuals are is related to the material nature of their production and the nature of human beings has great influence on how they express their lives. Further, Marx felt that man is a direct natural being endowed with natural vital powers (tendencies and abilities) that make him an active being (Marx-Engels Correspondence 1875, p. 2). Besides portraying man as a natural being, Marx also shows man as a physical and sensuous being prone to suffering and conditions and is thus limited in certain aspects like other living things such as plants and animals. Thus, man’s essential goals and needs are independent of him. According to Marx, man’s nature depends on his tendencies, essential powers, drives and needs, which are quite forceful on him thus his needs and consequently his nature and manner of actions (Marx-Engels Correspondence 1875, p. 4). . There are also other features with which human beings are distinguished from other animals. For example, man is conscious, the ability to produce own subsistence/physical environment and religious. Although animals also produce their own subsistence to some extent, they only produce when there is an immediate physical need that compels them to do that. On the other hand, human beings produce the entire nature and these products immediately belong to their physical bodies. In addition, while non-human animals only produce according to the needs of their species, man produces according to the laws of beauty and to the standards of every species (Marx 1875, p. 5). By defining and describing man on the basis of production, Marx thus portrays production as an essential human activity. When pursued freely, production is thus a human activity that is quite rewarding (Mehring 2003, p. 47). It is also worth noting that in his definition of man on the basis of production, Marx did not speak of work and labour in a positive note. In this regard, Marx opposes capitalism and supports communism, which he believed did away with labor. Thus capitalism or private property could only be dealt a blow by attacking it in the material form and as a labour-related activity (Marx 1875, p. 5). Additionally, Marx believed that private property is often associated with labour, social labour, freedom and human, all of which are associated. In fact, by its own nature, labour is never free and should be regarded as a non-human antisocial activity driven by private property and the creation of private wealth, influence and power (Ollman 1976, p. 12). While the worker personifies labour, which is a torment and exertion to him, the capitalist functions as and personifies capital. Although Marx mentioned labour and work in negative light in many instances, he did not bedevil labour per see. Nonetheless, he was adamant that capitalism made labour and work rather inhuman, dehumanising and external to the labourer. Since labour does not belong to a worker’s essential being, it is always associated with unhappiness and misery because labour does not help man develop free mental and physical energy (Ollman 1976, p. 27). Marx on Capitalism and Alienation Alienation is the other subject that Marx extensively covered in his philosophical works. He defined alienation as the estrangement of people from some of the aspects of human existence and nature. In other words, alienation is a situation in which peoples’ drives, essentials and tendencies that constitute their being and successes are deprived or stunted. Alienation thus prevents people from realizing own goals in life, making them objects of capital. Unlike capitalism that Marx blames for alienation, communism has been portrayed to be the remedy for alienation as it would result in actualisaton or self-activity and self-control. Marx also defined alienation as the separation of things that are together and in harmony (Blackledge 2008, p. 68). Cited as responsible for alienation is the stratification of society into social and economic classes. Placing people in certain classes basically alienates them from humanity. In the capitalist mode of production, the worker loses his/her abilities to determine and shape his/her life and destiny since he/she gets deprived of their rights to think and act as directors of their actions, characters, destiny and lives (Ollman 1976, p. 96). Further, capitalism deprives labourers their abilities to forge relationships with others, own property and exploit the values of products of their sweat. Alienation and the Stratification of Society According to Marx’s theories and views on capitalism, alienation and human nature, capitalism stratifies the community into the capitalist and the worker. Capitalists are the owners of the means of production such as factories, banks and offices. Regrettably, capitalism has only empowered the owners of the means of production to concentrate wealth in their hands (Moishe 1993, p. 36). It also happens that the capitalists are just the minority while the majority workers are increasingly being exploited, more so in this 21st century when capitalism is at its peak with the a few capitalists getting wealthier by the day at the expense of the masses. Moreover, individual businessmen and companies have grown wealthier, surpassing the wildest dreams of even the capitalists and their supporters. In fact, there are corporate organisations that have become richer than countries with just about one hundred richest companies in the world controlling more than 50% of global trade. Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution By exploiting the working class, the market relations, the emerging technologies and means of production, the capitalist played a rather crucial role in causing and spreading industrial revolution. In the process of using these technologies in the production and the marketing of their products, capitalists managed to sell products that were in high demand. These high-demand products, which sold fast and profitably in the market, had to be produced faster, cheaper and in better quality using the latest and most effective technologies. In this respect, capitalism may be said to have caused the industrial revolution and the accompanying worldwide technological transformation (Wendling 2009, p. 65). Although the environmental consequences of industrial revolution and the resultant technological advancement are rather adverse, the role of capitalism in causing these two events could be painted in a more positive light. No matter how good the industrial revolution consequences of capitalism were, the profits still benefitted the wealthy capitalists while the working class continued to be exploited as the profit-oriented mass production of goods remained rather conservative even in the industrial revolution era (Foster 1999, p. 2). In other words, there is a feeling that capitalism was not that fertile a ground for industrial revolution (Wendling 2009, p. 25). Capitalism-instigated industrial revolution thus had a bias towards profiting the rich factory owners. In fact, the available and prospective markets during the industrial revolution period consisted of the rich capitalists who received the bigger margin of the profits and the poor workers who never engaged in any domestic or local production of their own but had little of not money to live a dignified life (Cohen 2001, p. 61). Conclusion Capitalism, alienation and human nature are some of the three interconnected philosophical ideas that Karl Marx thought and wrote about. He asserted that by stratifying the community into the rich owners of means of production and the poor working class, capitalism caused the alienation of the latter from humanity. This was rather unfortunate since by nature, human beings are social and require closer relationships rather than alienations. On a rather positive note, capitalism caused the industrial revolution by prompting the discovery and use of advanced technology for the production of marketable and high0demand products. References Allan, K., and Allan, K. D. (2005) Explorations in classical sociological theory: seeing the social world. Pine Forge Press. Blackledge, P. (2008) Marxism and Ethics. The Journal of International Socialism, 2(4), 354. Calhoun, C. J. (2002). Classical sociological theory. Wiley-Blackwell. Cohen, G. A. (2001) Karl Marxs theory of history: a defence, second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ernie, T. (2004) The discovery of the materialist conception of history in the writings of the young Karl Marx. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press. Foster, J. B. (1999) Marxs Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology. 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(2002) Why read Marx today? Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More