Marx’s Influences: Key Thinkers and Their Impact
Heraclitus: Dialectics and the World
Heraclitus used dialectics to explain the world and humanity.
Democritus and 18th-Century French Materialism
Democritus and the French materialists of the 18th century represent classical materialism. Marx criticized this for being abstract and mechanistic, reducing the subject to mechanical laws. Marx advanced beyond this with dialectical materialism.
Hegel: Dialectic and Alienation
For Hegel, alienation is the process by which the Idea becomes something radically different from itself. It alienates and becomes Nature. The reasons for this are theological, related to the Idea’s (God’s) plans for self-knowledge. In Marx, alienation refers to the exploitation of man by man. It refers to the loss of autonomy and freedom of a social class due to exploitation by another, primarily because of private property in production.
Adam Smith: The Minimal State and Self-Interest
Adam Smith argued that the state’s financial responsibility should be minimal, replaced by self-interest. The market regulates economic relations through the Law of Supply and Demand. When supply exceeds demand, producers lower prices to stimulate sales. When demand exceeds supply, buyers push up prices. Marx criticized this, arguing that individuals would be so preoccupied with basic needs that developing their true potential would be impossible. He believed the state should control the means of production to prevent social classes and the exploitation of humans by other humans. Eventually, the state would disappear, allowing a focus on true human potential.
Darwin: Evolution and Society
Marx admired Darwin. Darwin recognized in animals and plants English society, with its division of labor, competition, new markets, “invention,” and the “struggle for survival.” Darwin agreed with Marx on atheism and materialism. The Darwinian theory of evolution originated in philosophical and economic readings.
Feuerbach: Alienation and Atheism
For Feuerbach, religion is a human invention, applying attributes of the material world to a transcendent realm. This leads to a reversal where the roles of creator and creature are exchanged, resulting in religious alienation.
Proudhon: Property and the Petty Bourgeoisie
Proudhon believed that property combines components that enable both tyranny and freedom. He argued that while individual labor generates legitimate property, unoccupied land should not be considered legal property. Marx initially liked this but later called Proudhon an ideologist of the petty bourgeoisie for his attempt to unite the proletariat and middle class against Louis Napoleon (a utopia).
Bakunin: The State After Revolution
Bakunin believed the state should be dissolved after the social revolution. Marx proposed a transition period. This difference led to the expulsion of anarchists from the First International.