Karl
Marx had two main influences: G.W.F Hegel and Jean-Jacques
Rousseau. As I mentioned in a previous
post Marx became interested in Hegel when he began studying at the University
of Berlin. Marx even became a part of
the Young Hegelians. The Young Hegelians
were a group of German individuals who studied and wrote about Hegel’s work
after Hegel’s death.
Hegel
believed that history would happen a certain way which influenced Marx in his
belief that history was a series of class struggles. This would eventually led to Marx’s
developing his theory of the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat and the
revolution that he thought would take place between these two social classes.
Karl Marx took from Hegel that progression in society is
unavoidable. However Marx thought that
this was because of the economy. Hegel
also saw history as a pattern and not just a series of unrelated events, which
Marx also included into his theories of economics and society.
Another philosopher that influenced the ideas of Karl Marx
was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The
Social Contract is one of Rousseau’s well-known works. In The
Social Contract Rousseau outlines the best way for man to be treated in
society. Rousseau’s famous quote from
this work is “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains”.
Though it is not clearly stated that Rousseau influenced
Marx’s ideas, one can speculate this because in Marx’s book The Communist Manifesto Marx states,
“the workers had nothing to lose but their chains”.
Karl Marx’s influences information came from the Little
History of Philosophy textbook.
By: Lauren Williams Section 9 Group 3
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