Understanding Marx’s Philosophy and Historical Context
Marx was born in an era marked by the struggle of European monarchies against the Napoleonic Empire. After the fall of Napoleon, the most important countries gathered at the Congress of Vienna, which marked the triumph of the Restoration and reconstruction of the European map. However, political stability and social peace lasted a short time. Enlightenment ideas had taken root across the continent. Liberal socialist and anarchist ideologies favored the emergence of the bourgeois revolutions. There were three key years: 1820, 1830, and 1848. In the first year, there were frustrated modernization projects in Spain, where the European powers intervened in favor of Ferdinand VII. In the second wave, Greece and Belgium became independent. In 1848, there was an attempted revolt against the absolutist policy of Philip of Orleans.
At the same time, in reaction to the Napoleonic invasions, emerging nationalism took hold. Europe consolidated its industrial transformation. Economic progress did not affect everyone equally. Marx denounced the exploitation of workers, who were forced to live in miserable conditions. The rural exodus increased unemployment. Movements emerged with the aim of channeling the political demands of workers. Marx created the Workers’ International. The Catholic Church launched initiatives to help the poor and improve working conditions. Marx’s thought is a critical awareness of previous philosophy. The history of philosophy could be reduced to two fundamental concepts: idealism and materialism.
The Critique of Idealism
The different forms of nature were a manifestation of the Absolute Spirit. The starting point for an explanation of reality is not the Spirit but nature. The subject appears in Marxist philosophy as the only reality.
The Critique of Materialism
Marx rejected the assumptions of previous materialism, calling them abstract and unscientific. He criticized Feuerbach’s position and referred to it as contemplative materialism.
The Critique of Ideology
Marx understood material reality as the totality of the physical world. He referred to ideology as all representations that show the lives of human beings and are a natural result of social dynamics. Marx used the term ideology in a more restricted and negative sense to refer to those false representations of the social and historical existence of man. Marx sought to develop a philosophy of science.