Karl Marx and the Birth of Social Science
Introduction: Karl Marx and the 19th Century
Karl Marx lived during the 19th century, a period marked by conflict between conservatives and liberals. Europe was undergoing a major transformation—the Industrial Revolution—where the wealth of the bourgeoisie contrasted sharply with the poverty of the working class. Marxism, beyond being a school of thought, is a guide for transforming social relations.
The Birth of Social Science
Philosophy, according to Marx, should serve this social transformation and critically examine itself. Thought should cease being the sole focus of study, shifting instead to understanding social relations. Through his study of political economy, Marx realized a scientific understanding of society’s economic laws was possible. This is how Marx established social science on par with pure sciences like mathematics.
Analysis of Merchandise and the Concept of Surplus Value
During his time in England, Marx found fertile ground for developing various economic theories, grouped under political economy.
Political economy can be defined as the science studying the economic laws governing the production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods in human society.
Marx brought two key elements to the study of political economy: the idea that a scientific understanding of economic laws is possible, and the entire framework of concepts generated by this science, such as the value of labor, goods, and property.
The source of any product’s value lies in the labor required to produce it. A product has more value when more work is necessary. However, when it enters the market, its purchase value can differ based on supply and demand. This second value is called the price.
Property provides the legal framework governing an object’s ownership and use by an individual.
Surplus value is the profit, the difference between the value of labor and the market value—the difference between the value assigned to an object based on the labor invested and the value determined by supply and demand.
Influences: Utopian Socialism, Hegelian Left, and Political Economy
Universities underwent an academic revolution, shifting dependence from the church to the state. German philosophy became highly creative. Hegel’s influence was dominant, and upon his death, his legacy divided into two camps: the right (conservative) and the left (liberal).
The Hegelian Left
Hegel’s absolute idealism can be understood through several key concepts:
- Unity of Opposites: Hegel believed opposites don’t exist, seeking to reconcile them and eliminate contradiction in thought. Marx argued that opposites are eliminated in reality, not just in thought.
- Reality as Reason: Hegel posited that reality stems from reason/thought. This singular thought, though divisible, remains unified, fragmenting to create reality. Human knowledge improves over time, eventually reaching fullness. Hegel believed this absolute knowledge had been achieved in his time. Marx countered that reality shapes reason, not the other way around. World history is not the history of reason but the natural history of humankind.
- Reality as Dialectic: Reason progresses through contradiction and synthesis, involving three stages: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Feuerbach influenced Marx by emphasizing the need to transform the state to realize Hegel’s ideas. Feuerbach critiqued religion through the concept of alienation. For Hegel, alienation is negation, but for Feuerbach, it is the denial of human nature, representing incompleteness. Humans, destined for perfection, create objects in their image and likeness, striving to be like God. To achieve freedom, however, atheism is necessary.