Karl Marx Life and Contributions in Philosophy
Name
Institution
Karl Marx Life and Contributions in Philosophy
Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany, on 5th May in 1818 and died in London due to pleurisy on 14th March in 1883 (Fuchs, 2015). Karl published one of the most popular and celebrated pamphlets in social movement history entitled The Communist Manifesto and also a book called Das Kapital (Fuchs, 2015). The authorship of Karl was based on Marxism school of thoughts and beliefs. His contribution to philosophy was majorly through Karl Marx’s Theory of Capitalism. Karl Marx’s life’s work was based on the exploration of the relationship between different classes in a society, which are dictated by the ownership of production resources. In Marx’s system of capitalist stratifies society into two groups, the bourgeoisie, who control the means of production, and the proletariat who provide labour (Fuchs, 2015). Karl Marx’s theory of capitalism has concepts such as alienation, exploitation, and the value of the commodity, which are still relevant to the study of contemporary society. The means of production, according to Marx, is the most critical component of this interaction as it dictates who gets more power between different groups.
Karl Marx wrote that class struggles define the history of human society, guiding it towards a classless existence. Class struggles exist as humans try to access society’s limited resources. I highly agree with Karl’s reasoning in that it is evident that every individual work towards attaining a given social class in life. I, therefore, understand why we have different classes of wealth in society. Marx defines a commodity in the context of capitalism as an object created to fulfil human wants directly or indirectly. Applying his theory helps me understand the economy and society in the context of my profession and life. I can, therefore, be able to improve my experience knowing that items are commodities because although labourers make them, they are solely owned by the capitalist, who controls how they are produced.
Reference
Fuchs, C. (2015). Dallas Smythe Today–The audience commodity, the digital labour debate,
Marxist political economy and critical theory. Prolegomena to a digital labour theory of value. In Marx and the Political Economy of the Media (pp. 522-599). Brill.